Sky's Peak Academy: Concurring Despair
by Mike73
Summary: (SYOC Closed) While the events leading up to The Most Despairing Event in the History of Mankind were being set in motion in Japan, a copy cat school modeled after Kibougamine Academy was being built in America. Now, it is ready, and the First Class is about to attend in what promises to be an interesting, and unknowingly-deadly, school year. (Thank you to everyone who submitted!)
1. Chapter 1: Pre-Prologue

"Kibougamine Academy...

Despite being a Japanese school, it was famous world-wide as the best school in the world. The best of the best of Japan's high school students were the only ones who could attend, as well as a very minute amount of foreign exchange students. In fact, many students from around the world would desperately try to become exchange students from their country to Japan, as success was guaranteed to any and all who graduated. Unfortunately for them, it was a largely pointless effort. Kibougamine Academy was meant to be a symbol of hope for Japan, and only for Japan.

Eventually, copy cat schools began to pop up in various countries. However, none were ever nearly as successful as Kibougamine. The schools never gained much renown, and the students who graduated never met any of the immediate success promised to them.

But then, one country found a way. The United States of America, in a plea of desperation, managed to get the attention of a certain group with unknown intentions. Their leader, a seemingly simple fashion model, secretly promised American government officials that she could easily get a school built in America that would be of the same caliber as Kibougamine. The girl's power was doubted, but she had an extremely powerful following. As part of the deal, her group would build the school with their power alone, though the government could supervise to make sure everything went as planned. All the girl asked for in return, was permission to place members of her group in America without having to vie for citizenship. Though the government was wary of her intentions, and were apprehensive of the group's power, their desperation ended up overpowering their cautiousness, and they allowed it. Besides, they doubted her group could ever gain any influence.

And so, Sky's Peak Academy was born. The name was admittedly awkward, but the girl demanded that it be the school's name, to both reference and mock the school in Japan. Still, the American school was an architectural marvel, and seemed to have a limitless amount of money pumped into it, all funded by the mysterious group. Publically, however, the school was said to have been made by American geniuses, funded by the government itself. Most people accepted it as fact, though there were quite a few who found the whole thing to be too shady. Conspiracy theories had begun to spring up, all of which were denied or ignored by the government.

But now, it was all going to be tested, to see if all the trouble was worth it. The 1st Class of Sky's Peak Academy were to be enrolled. Students of all grades and ages from across the country were going to be invited, and be labeled with Ultimate talents, all as the symbolic hope of America itself."

The document I'd just read seemed unreal to me. I'd heard the rumors of course, and assumed something shady had happened to allow such an incredible school like Sky's Peak to exist. I hadn't cared though, I was just glad to have gotten an invitation.

The titles given to American students had been changed from the ones that Japanese students received, as Ultimate apparently felt more natural as a title than the awkward translation Super High School Level. It was a little disappointing, and honestly I felt like the translation change was no different than the pointless translation changes that Japanese games from the 90s had to suffer. Still, an invitation was still an invitation, and I was elated that I was going to attend the first ever successful Hope's Peak copycat school.

I felt no elation now though. I was now alone in an empty classroom, with a document confirming that Sky's Peak was shady as hell. What's worse...I couldn't remember a single thing other than the fact that I'd been invited to attend. Not my talent, my past, not even my name.

Hold on, maybe I should back up a bit here. My thoughts are jumbled enough as it is, so I should probably go through my very few memories in as chronological of an order as I can muster. It would make things less confusing, that was for sure.

My earliest memory I can think of is getting the letter of invitation to attend Hope's Peak Academy. Try as I might, I couldn't seem to focus my memory enough to remember who the letter was sent to, or for what talent the person was being accepted for.

Next...I remember walking up to the front gates of the academy. I remember standing there for a moment, my pride of actually being chosen as a student worthy of an Ultimate title and talent momentarily filling me with many emotions. I don't remember exactly how I got there though, to be honest. I guess it was yet another gap in my memories.

The next memory isn't much better. It continued from my last one, with me walking up to the front gates. As soon as I enter through the front door, my memories turn to mush once more. It was just getting frustrating at this point.

Those are all the memories I can recall. Sometime after all of that happened, I woke up here. For the sake of clarity, I'll relay what happened and my initial thoughts.

* * *

I must have been asleep.

It was the first thing I realized as I found myself sitting at a desk, with my head laying down resting on my folded arms. I blinked drearily, and let out a yawn as I sat up and stretched. My back satisfactorily popped a bit, and I shook my head to stave off the remaining tiredness in my brain.

It's a good thing too, as it helped me to quickly realize that I should not have been sleeping at a desk. I had no idea where I actually was, and as I looked around, my surroundings soon came into focus, and startled me.

I seemed to be in a classroom...yeah, that's right. I had been accepted to Sky's Peak Academy, the First Class in fact. I kind of hated the name, it felt awkward to say to be honest. But, that was besides the point. I knew where I was, but now a new question had arised.

What the hell was I doing here? How did I get here? When did I get here? And why had I fallen asleep here? I didn't understand it and couldn't think of any answers, and somehow, I doubted I would receive a decent answer anytime soon. Still, there was no point to just sitting around in an empty classroom. I needed to look around and see what was going on.

It was when I got up and took a closer look at the classroom I was in, that I realized something sinister was happening. There was a camera on the wall, watching me, along with a monitor. I had no idea why they were there, but then I saw something even worse. In place of windows, were large steel plates that looked incredibly thick. I cautiously stepped over to one to take a closer look, and confirmed that it would be impossible to remove them by any normal means. Though, why would I want to remove them? They were odd, and extremely out of place, but the worst thing about them was that they blocked off the windows.

Hold on...I remembered now, how I got here. Today was my first day at Sky's Peak Academy. I remember looking at the school building in awe, before walking in through the front gate. I remember that none of the windows had been covered...so why were they now?

* * *

And, well, that was it. It was then that I noticed the document that I talked about at the beginning of this monologue. It was nailed to the white board at the front of the class. It seemed important, so I read it. And now, here we are. I'm standing here, alone, scared, with no memories, talking to myself as if I were my own audience, trying to form some semblance of sanity. Even worse, despite not being able to remember almost anything, this entire situation somehow seemed familiar. It was completely maddening.

Eventually, I found my resolve. I couldn't just stand there. I had to look around, I had to go find answers. There had to have been reasons for why this was happening, I just had to search for them. First things first, I had to get out of this classroom.

I hurried over to the classroom door and yanked it open with surprising ease, as I'd half-expected it to be locked. As I did, I found myself in a hallway. It looked like I was in what I assumed to be the classrooms area of the school, as there were multiple other class doors in the hallway. I wondered if anyone else were in the other classrooms, and decided to check them one by one, but didn't find anybody else. It seemed like I truly was alone.

I started wandering around the hallways, since because I was new to the school, I had no idea where anything was. All I could find out from exploring the halls was that each room and the hallways had cameras and monitors. It was almost as if someone was watching me...scratch that, I probably was being watched. The more I thought about it, the more likely it seemed to be true. This only brought on even more questions though. Who was watching me? And why?

It had barely been ten minutes since I had awoken, yet I already had so many questions. I felt so lost, literally and metaphorically. The only thing I could do is keep exploring, but I had no idea where I could end up. I just wanted to get out of here already.

Eventually, I found myself in front of a pair of double doors. I had no idea to where they lead, but I suddenly felt anxious to open them. I don't know why, I just did. It felt like things might keep ending up that way for awhile, not knowing things, and not knowing why I didn't know things.

Nonetheless, I knew I needed to open these doors. I had to find out what was going on. And so, I grabbed ahold of the door handles, and pushed the doors open, unknowingly walking into what would be one of the biggest death traps known to man kind.

Dramatics aside, I found myself in a gymnasium once I entered through the doors. It seemed normal enough, but I didn't get much of a chance to look around though, as I suddenly began to feel dizzy. My mind felt like it was turning to mush once more, and I collapsed.

* * *

 **Well, I finally did it. I wasn't sure about the timing, seeing as there are plenty other SYOC stories out there right now, but I finally caved in and decided what the hell, I'll give it a shot, and if it works out then great, if not then...well I'll understand due to the current oversatuation. Anyway, welcome, to everyone who has decided to give this story a look! I've had an idea for this rolling around in my head for a few months now, and I now feel confident enough finally start it. I've got a general outline planned from beginning to end, so there should be no worries about this going unfinished or not having an ending or having twists that I pull out of my ass.**

 **I plan to play and mess around with tropes standard with the Dangan Ronpa games, as well as with SYOC stories. There's gonna be quite a bit of leaning on the fourth wall, especially when it comes to class trials and how they usually go. I guess you could say this is going to be a parody of sorts, and though there will be some humor (whether it'll successful humor will be judged by you guys), it won't be the only focus.**

 **The character app is below. This is NOT going to be a first come, first serve kind of thing. I want you guys to really flesh out your characters, and quality will always win out over timing. After one week, if I still don't have enough OCs, then I will just add my own that I have created as back ups.**

 **I will be accepting 14 OCs, with an equal amount of boys and girls. I prefer for submissions to be sent directly to me through messaging to avoid character spoilers. Please, please, PLEASE do that.**

 **Anyway, I think that's it. I'll be looking forward to the OCs that will hopefully be coming in. Have fun!**

Character Sheet- Which can also be found in my Bio.

Name: (Your character's name.)

Nationality: (As this is based in America, they can be any nationality.)

Gender: (Your character's gender.)

Age: (From 15-18. If they have been held back and so are older than the average high school student, then they can be older but it has to be explained.)

Grade: (What grade your character is in. Only 9-12.)

Sexuality: (Romance probably won't be playing a big factor in this, but it'll still be good to know as a reference.)

Ultimate Talent: (The unique talent that got them enrolled into the school. Canon talents from the games can't be used. That includes Luck and ? as titles. If you need help thinking of a talent, Google can help find a list of SHSL talent ideas to pick from.)

Appearance: (What they physically look like. Includes body type, face details, posture.)

Outfit/Style: (What their usual clothing attire is.)

Personality: (What are they like? How do they react to people? How do they react to certain situations?)

Background/Past: (How was their life growing up? What were their hardships? How did they find out their talent? They don't have to have a tragic backstory, so don't feel like you have to force one on them if it doesn't make sense.)

Hobbies: (Any hobbies they may have. Will be useful information for Free Time Events.)

Skills: (What skills, other than their Ultimate Talent, do they have?)

Role During Investigations: (How would they help during an investigation? Can they handle investigating a crime scene, or even looking at a body?)

Role During Trials: (What would they do during a trial? Are they skeptical, cynical, aggressive, passive, rational, logical, emotional, etc. during high-stress debates?)

Worst Fear: (What is their deepest darkest fear?)

Deep Hidden Secret: (What is their most-kept secret that they can never let anyone know?)

Important Momento: (A item they left behind to be protected in the hands of someone they trusted before they left for the academy.)

Strongest Motive to Murder: (Whether they actually become a culprit or not won't be determined until later. However, this section will help with figuring out how severely your character will act towards motives.)

Most Likely Role: (Would they most likely be a Killer, Victim, or Survivor? Put them in order from most likely to least likely.)

Other: (Anything else you can think of that you want to add.)


	2. Chapter 2: Prologue Part 1

**A/N: Wow, I'm really surprised and humbled by the responses I've received to this. The amount of characters I received was a huge shock, and there were so many good ones, but unfortunately I couldn't accept them all. I sincerely thank everyone who gave this not-so-original story of mine attention. Seriously, another SYOC showed up right after I posted the intro chapter. It makes me happy that so many of you gave my story attention, in a sea of many, many SYOC stories. I'll try to write something good for you all, and I hope it at least meets your expectations.**

 **One last thing to note. Once all of the character introductions are done, I will add an Accepted Characters list along with credit to their creators to the bottom of the first chapter.**

* * *

 **PROLOGUE: The Beginning of the End, or, Welcome to the First Day of the Final Days of the Rest of Your Lives**

* * *

...

"...ey..."

"...on, wake..."

"...you hear me?"

"...unconscious, or..."

"Hey!"

I could hear voices. Everything was dark, but I quickly realized that was because, well, my eyes were shut. My eyes slowly began to open, my vision blurred at first, until I eventually was able to make out the shapes of two people standing over me. One was looking away, and appeared to be talking to someone else. The other was looking at me, their hand on my shoulder as they carefully tried to shake me awake.

"F-Finally! Jesus Christ, you had us worried for awhile now!" It was a female voice. As my sight cleared further, I could see she had dark black hair that she had done up in a bun on top of her head. Her eyes were brown, and relayed relief now that I was awake.

"Told you he wasn't dead!" A distant male voice called out.

"No shit he isn't dead," A rough male voice replied, "He was obviously breathing the whole time."

"He sure looked dead though," A female voice piped in.

"We uh, thought you were maybe in a coma." The second figure that had been looking away was looking at me now as they spoke. Their voice was light, but looking at them I could see they were a boy. He had a gentle smile on his face, and had crouched down a bit to get a better look at me. I could tell he had messy orange hair that seemed to go in every direction, and that he was somewhat tall and lanky.

"Yeah." The black-haired girl said with a nod, "One of the others told us we had to be really careful about waking you up if you were in a coma. I didn't think you actually were, but-"

"She kept wanting to shake you awake," the orange-haired boy chuckled, "That would've been bad if you really were comatose."

"Didn't she end up shaking him anyway?" An unseen girl asked.

"J-Just a little! That's all, I swear!" The black-haired girl said defensively, looking flustered from the sudden attention, "It worked anyway, I think."

"U-Um," I eventually managed to speak out, my voice audibly hoarse, "What's going on? Why...why does everyone think I was in a coma? What happened?"

"Oh, wait, you're probably confused." The orange-haired boy said as he shook his head, "Shoot, sorry man. We're all kind of confused too. One of us found you laying unconscious in here and called for help. Honestly, we all woke up unconscious in this school a little while ago, but you were the only one not in a classroom. So, we kinda assumed the worse."

"School?" I asked, "Then, I really am...?"

I slowly sat up and looked around. I was still in the gymnasium, but I was no longer alone. I couldn't tell how many there were, but there were a lot of kids here now. They were most likely other students, just like me.

"Hey, take it easy," the girl told me, gently stopping me from sitting up any further with her hand, "You were out way longer than the rest of us. Just take it slow, alright?"

Despite her attempts with calming words, I was feeling panic begin to rise in my chest. The very few memories I had were beginning to return to me, and the realization that I was still in the school made me feel a sense of dread.

"H-How did I get here?" I questioned, my panic easily caught in my voice, "I can't remember how I got here!"

"Shh, it's ok, neither do we," the girl said consolingly, "Don't get worked up, that won't help anything. We're in the same boat though, none of us remember how we got here."

I shook my head. I wasn't sure if that made me feel any better or worse. I had to ask one more question.

"Do...Do you remember anything else?"

"Huh? Like what?" The boy asked, not understanding what I meant, "Like she said, we can't remember how we got here. I dunno, there's not much else to forget to be honest."

"No, I mean..." I struggled to find the words, and eventually went with, "Your memories...do you still remember them?"

That just earned me a confused look from the both of them.

"I can't remember anything!"

I don't even know why I blurted it out like that. Maybe it was because I was scared and panicking, but still, it hardly seemed like the best way to reveal something like that.

"What'd he say?" A female voice asked, her worry apparent.

"Oh shit," a male voice muttered, "Maybe he really was in a coma, or hit his head or something."

I took that as meaning everyone else had mostly intact memories. It was just me then.

"That's not good..." the black-haired girl started to say, a grimace on her face, "Do you, uh, feel any pain? Does your head hurt at all?"

I shook my head.

"Can you stand then?" She continued.

"Uh, I think so," I replied, and forced myself to try to stand up. I was a little wobbly, but otherwise felt fine, and told them so.

"Good to hear," the orange-haired boy said with a grin, "That's one less worry to deal with now."

I nodded, then took the chance to fully look at where I was now. I was indeed in the gymnasium, with what I counted was fourteen others students in there with me. As I looked around I could see that the bleacher seats were pulled out, as if in anticipation for a big game. Other than that, there was also a lone podium at the end of the gymnasium. I wondered if maybe it was for the principal, as I'd imagine they'd use it during an orientation assembly.

"So. That's taken care of then," One of the boys stated, breaking me out of my train of thought, "What's next?"

"No clue," a girl responded, "I'm confused as hell right now."

"We all are," another girl sighed, "We should probably catch the last guy up on what we know."

"Oh, yes," a boy agreed, "That'd probably be a good thing."

"I'll tell him," a girl in a light purple suit said as she stepped forward, "Let's keep this short and sweet-"

"So basically the opposite of you." A different girl interrupted with a jeer. Everybody just stared at her. I had no idea why she just randomly insulted the girl in the suit, but her victim didn't even acknowledge her and just continued with her explanation.

"The last thing any of us remember is walking up to the front doors." The suited woman explained, "At that point, every single person fell unconscious, and then woke up in one of the classrooms down the hall. Some time after that, someone found you, and we've all been in here since. So far, including you, there's fifteen of us here. We haven't found any adults or teachers. Also, I don't know if you noticed, but the windows are all covered with steel plates, and there's cameras everywhere." There was a beat. "I think that's about it."

"Pretty much," a boy nodded, "It's weird how you ended up in here though."

"And why you can't remember anything either," added a girl with a pensive look, "You're not hurt, so why'd it happen?"

"Maybe whoever zapped us with memory loss, hit him harder than the rest of us," a boy suggested.

"That's fucking stupid." Another boy said bluntly.

"This whole thing's stupid," the jeering girl agreed, "I came to this dumbass school because it's supposed to be an easy ride, but everything's all screwed up."

"Besides, memory loss is a bit of a stretch," another girl jumped in, "How would it even be possible?"

"Obviously it is not possible," scoffed a boy with a very heavy Russian accent, "It is not the least bit logical."

"U-Uh, it could be, maybe," a girl said shyly, "Like, maybe, someone used hypnotism, or something."

"That could explain why specific memories were able to be taken," one of the boys guessed, "I should know, it's my talent. That wouldn't explain how it happened to me too though, I'm pretty much immune to it myself."

"But why though?" A girl asked, "The hell is goin' on!?"

Everybody was talking so much, I couldn't get a word in. I had to tell them, the memory I had of waking up in a classroom, the document I'd found, how I'd fainted when I entered the gymnasium. I knew it was important somehow, but I didn't get to have the chance at the moment. As, just then, a new, startling voice began to speak.

"Eh? Testing! Testing! One, two, three? Hey, is this thing on?"

Everybody froze. That voice, it sounded almost child-like and cartoonish, but at the same time, it sounded evil and devious. It chilled me to the core. It's strange, how something as simple as a sound can affect someone so drastically.

"I **said** , hey, is this thing on?" The voice repeated itself, it's gender unclear, "Come on now, can't you bastards hear me?"

"Wh-What the hell is that?" Someone eventually managed to say. I hadn't realized it had been my own voice asking that question.

"Ah, there we go," the cartoonish voice spoke up again, "I knew you all weren't deaf! What's the matter? Is my sexy, velvety voice too much for you bastards to handle?"

"Cut the shit!" One of the boys exclaimed, "Who the hell's talking right now? Tell us what's going on right fucking now!"

"Ooh, such foul-mouthed, excitable youth!" The voice exclaimed, "I love it!"

"We're not kidding. Show yourself!" The suited woman commanded.

"Upupupu...if you insist." The voice said sinisterly. A great rumbling noise could be heard in the distance, as if something heavy was being shifted around. There was a sudden burst of smoke, and flashing lights focused on the podium at the front of the gymnasium. There was a drum roll, and at the crescendo of it all, something jumped up into the air and landed behind the podium.

It...it was a teddy bear, of all things. Its fur was black on one half of the body, and white on the other, with a black beady eye on the white side and a jagged red eye on the black side. It had a goofy yet sinister smile, and its mouth didn't move as it talked.

Overall, it was extremely surreal to witness.

"Hello everyone!" Its greeting sounded cheerful, but it felt superficial. "It is I, Monokuma, your friendly neighborhood headmaster!" Nobody said a word in response, all of us stunned into silence. This was just _weird_.

"Eh? Why aren't any of you saying anything?" The bear asked in mock confusion, "Do I have something on my face?"

"Y-You..." A boy stuttered, "You're just a toy! How are you...?"

"That's what it is? Wait, what kind of toy?" The Hypnotist asked.

"That's a bear, innit? A tiny little robot bear?" A boy with with a think English accent asked.

"You can't see it?" A girl asked the Hypnotist, "The toy's right there, it's pretty much impossible to miss."

"Wow, I already can see how this is gonna go. How predictable." The bear sighed. "Let me save everyone a bunch of time and summarize how this conversation was gonna go."

"Ahem. Oh, aren't you just a toy?" It used a mocking high-pitched voice, which was a bit grating on my ears.

"No! I'm Monokuma!" It yelled at itself in it's normal voice. It kept switching back and firth between its mocking voice and normal voice as it spoke.

"Calm down, it's probably just being controlled by remote control. It must be a robot of some kind."

"I told you, I'm not a robot! I'm Monokuma!"

"I wonder who's controlling the teddy bear then. Isn't that weird though?"

"I'm not gonna tell you again! I'm Monokuma! Grr, you're all making me angry!"

"Uwahhh! How scary!"

"That's right! Be afraid! Bwahaha!"

"Ahem. So, how was that?" Monokuma asked, "Did I accurately summarize your very generic reactions?"

No one was sure what to say, least of all me. I had no idea how to process what just happened. This wasn't just weird, this was starting to cross the line to becoming crazy. Seriously, how was anyone supposed to react to that?

"...What the hell was that?" I eventually asked.

"Yeah, seriously, what's going on here?" The black-haired girl added.

"Did you trap us here or something?" A different girl asked.

"Are you seriously a robot bear?" A boy pondered.

"Oh my, so many questions." Monokuma giggled, "I can't answer all of them of course, what would be the fun in that?"

"Nobody gives a shit about fun," a boy countered brashly, "Tell us what's going on! Now!"

"Well I give a shit, so how about that?" The bear looked angry, and flashed a claw at us before calming down. "Here's what I can tell you. Yes, I trapped you all here. No, I will not tell you how. Instead, I'll tell you why. You see, all I want, is **despair**."

"Despair?" A girl questioned in surprise. "Whaddaya want that for?"

"Reasons." Monokuma grinned.

"Arright, so how does trappin' us here do that?" The girl asked next.

"Oh, easy. You're all gonna live here indefinitely."

It was a simple statement, but it still managed to make my chest tighten in fear.

"Indefinitely!?" A boy asked. "Like, forever?"

"No shit, that's what indefinite means, dumbass," scoffed the jeering girl from before.

"Rude." Pouted the first boy.

"Guys, I don't think you're understanding what that bear's saying," I started to say, my earlier panic starting to revitalize, "We're **trapped** here! We can't leave!"

"How? It's not like the exit's been blocked...oh..." A boy said in realization.

"The steel plates..." A girl whispered.

"Yep!" Monokuma laughed, "I've blocked off all the exits ahead of time. There's no escape!"

"No bloody way..."

"I do not believe it!"

"You better let us out! Now!"

"Upupupu! And so the predictable reactions return!" Monokuma smiled widely, "It's so hilarious, you're really no different from the rest!"

"The rest?" The orange-haired boy asked.

"Oops! I said too much!" The bear covered its mouth, but let go before continuing, "Well, I guess 'indefinite' isn't entirely truthful. There is one way to leave the school. All one has to do is Graduate."

"That's it?" Someone asked, I stopped playing attention to know who, "So, what, just go to classes for a couple years, and that's it? That's not too bad."

"Oh no, it's not that kind of graduation," the bear corrected them, "It's a special kind of graduation. It's known as a Super High School Level Graduation!"

"Super High School Level?" Someone asked, "Isn't that the term Japan uses for its students at Hope's Peak Academy?"

"Ooh, what a coincidence~," Monokuma said, its voice almost a purr, "Anyway, I bet you're all _dying_ to know exactly what you have to do to Graduate. Well...too bad! I don't want to tell you bastards yet! I think I'll let you stew on it a bit. Meanwhile, you all can go explore your new permanent residence and get acquainted with each other. It'll make the reveal of what Graduation entails all the more despairing! Of course, the audience already knows what it is, so the wait will only be suspenseful for you bastards."

"...The audience?" I questioned, "Wait, is someone really watching this?"

Monokuma refused to say anything else, and with a sadistic smile, it suddenly seemed to sink into the floor and disappear.

"Wh-Where'd it go!?" Somebody gasped in shock, but nobody answered them.

I had no idea what Graduation was going to be, but I knew it couldn't be good. It made me feel sick to my stomach with worry and anxiety. And from the heavy atmosphere I felt in the room, I could tell everyone else felt similarly. We all felt at least a tinge of the feeling Monokuma was trying to inflict us with.

That feeling, was the beginnings of despair...

* * *

 **A/N: And so begins the story. No characters were named yet, but hopefully some of you will be able to recognize your character's lines during this chapter. Character introductions will start during the next chapter. I was thinking of splitting them up into two chapters with seven characters each, if you guys would prefer it a different way though then I'm open to suggestions. I'm hoping to have the next chapter done before the end of the week, so I hope to see you all then!**


	3. Chapter 3: Prologue Part 2

**A/N: Wow, I'm glad this has had such positive responses so far. I wanted the last chapter to be a little experimental and different, and was worried it may have come off as pretentious, haha. I originally wrote it with generic sentences and responses, and then rewrote what I had with as much characterization as possible, with some mixed success. As some of you pointed out, only about half or so of the voices really stood out, and overall it could be confusing to read. I apologize for that, and though it won't stop me from taking similarly-risky approaches when writing this story, I will try to do those kinds of things better. I hope that I can make up for it for now, with more focused characterization in this chapter.**

* * *

We all stood there for awhile, though I'm not sure for how long. It felt like an eternity to me. Eventually, the realization of what just happened began to hit us, and everyone began to talk at once. I barely even paid attention, it was all background noise at this point.

"What the hell just happened?"

"Wassat even real?"

"Graduation? I'm not doin' that crap!"

"I have to get outta here!"

"How? We're trapped!"

"Shit! What should we do?"

"I don't know!"

Everyone was suddenly cut off when somebody whistled surprisingly loudly. It caught our attention, and we all looked towards the person who whistled. It was the purple-suited woman of all people, much to my surprise.

"Miss Hutchins has something to say." She said simply, and looked over to a shy-looking girl with a prominent cowlick on her head, who was at her side. "You will speak now." She stepped back, allowing her to have our full attention.

"U-Um, shouldn't we look around?" Her voice was very quiet, almost a mumble, it was no wonder why we hadn't been able to hear her. "Monokuma said we should explore around the school. I, um, I know we probably shouldn't trust anything he says, b-but..."

"No shit Sherlock, we all already knew that." It was the girl who'd insulted a few others before who said this. Jeez, what was this, her fourth time insulting someone now?

"This isn't the time to be an ass," a scrawny girl with messy dark blonde hair groaned, "Shut it already and let her talk!"

"How about no?" The rude girl retorted, "I don't have to listen to any of you dumbasses."

"Umm..."

"Why the hell do ya gotta be so difficult?" One of the boys challenged, his most prominent feature being the scars on his face, "There's literally no reason for ya to act like a raging asshole right now."

"She is just speaking the truth," the boy with the Russian accent said with a shrug, "The quiet girl takes forever to say anything, and then all she has to say is something we already know. It is completely pointless."

"Are ya trying to get ya ass kicked?" The scarred boy yelled at him, "She didn't do anything wrong, ya prick!"

"Uh...guys..."

"Oh, threats of violence. How fucking typical." The rude girl spat out, a viscous grin on her face, "You're all acting like fucking cave men."

"Yep, she definitely wants her butt kicked too," a girl with a punk hair cut responded. She had pulled out a lighter, and was anxiously flicking the flame on and off.

"Are you going to burn her?" A feminine-looking boy asked in only slight shock. The nervous smile on his face only added to the bizarreness of his underwhelming response.

Unsurprisingly, everyone was interrupted by the suited woman's shrill whistle again. She had a mildly pissed off look to her this time, so everyone immediately stopped talking. She nodded to Hutchins, and so the shy girl continued from where she left off.

"U-Um, the reason I brought that stuff up was because we don't actually know anything about our situation yet," she explained, "We haven't looked around the whole school yet, s-so while Monokuma did tell us he blocked off all the exits, we don't actually know that yet for ourselves. And, uh, if we are going to be trapped here for awhile, then we should definitely get to know this place well. I-I think."

"Well said," I agreed, speaking up for the first time since Monokuma disappeared, "No matter what ends up happening, we need to know more about this place and explore as much as we can."

"U-Um, yeah," the shy girl nodded, "Does anyone, uh, disagree?"

Nobody did. So, after a bit more minor back and forth arguing, it was decided that everyone would split up into groups and explore the school, and then meet back up in the Gymnasium in about an hour from now. The black-haired girl and the orange-haired boy didn't leave with anyone else, and I took that as meaning they'd like to group up with me.

"Looks like we'll be a group then," I noted, to which they nodded. "I'm, uh, I'm glad. I know I don't really know anyone here, but you two stayed by me while I was unconscious. I feel a little safer with you two, I guess." I rubbed the back of my neck, a little embarrassed by what I said. "Sorry, that probably sounded really awkward."

"Don't worry about it," the boy grinned as he reached out a hand. I took it, and he continued once we shook hands. "Listen, we're all kind of freaking out right now. You've got it worse than the rest of us though, since you can't remember anything, so no one'll blame you for feeling scared."

"Yeah, don't worry, we've got your back," the girl nodded in affirmation, "Its messed up that this is even happening, but as long as I'm around, I'll make sure nothing happens to you."

"M-Man, you just make it sound corny," the boy sighed, fidgeting a bit with his hands.

"Whatever! At least I'm not clamming up the second I get left alone with a girl!"

"Wh-What!? I mean, I'm not alone! Our amnesiac friend is here too! Wh-What made you even think of that?"

"Don't act like it's not even true!"

"Are you two siblings, or something?" I asked, interrupting their squabble.

"What? Ew, no." The girl replied.

"Ew? What's that supposed to mean?" The boy asked. He was trying to play it off humorously, but I could tell it made him feel anxious.

"Nothing, nothing. Anyway, why'd you think that?" The girl asked me.

"You two kind of argue like brother and sister, is all," I answered.

"Well, we're not. We don't even really know each other, to be honest. I'm sorry, I don't even usually argue like that, I actually hate arguing," She told me, "How would you know what that's like anyway? Sibling squabbles?"

"I...I don't know..." I really didn't. I still couldn't remember anything about myself or my life, but somehow I apparently knew how sibling arguments worked. That didn't make any sense.

"You really don't have any memories at all?" The boy asked, a questioning look on his face.

"No, nothing before coming to this school," I said as I shook my head, "Well, I do remember getting the invitation letter to come here, but nothing else, not even my talent or my name. That's why I knew that we're at Sky's Peak Academy."

"Hmm, no one's actually mentioned that we're at Sky's Peak, now that I think about it, so I was wondering how you knew where we were," the girl said with a thoughtful look, "That's weird though. The only thing you can remember is just one memory that lets you know where you're at. But even then, you apparently can remember other things, even if you can't remember how you know them. Do you think, maybe Monokuma did this to you? Is that even possible?"

"I don't know, this is crazy, man," the boy groaned, "Seriously though, you don't even remember your name?"

I shook my head.

"Oh! I just realized, you don't know our names!" The girl said in surprise, "We've spent so much time talking, but we haven't even introduced ourselves yet.

"I'm Charlotte Lin. Oh, and my talent is being the Ultimate Inventor."

I was able to take a better look at her now that things had calmed down somewhat. She was of average height, maybe 5"6, give or take an inch, and looked pretty busty as well. She seemed to like to dress casually, from what I could tell. She was wearing blue jeans and a purple blouse. Over her blouse, she wore a light-blue comfortable-looking jacket, along with tan combat boots. And now that I was paying more attention, I was noticing that her hair was so black, it actually looked like a tint of dark blue. Not only that, but I was just now starting to notice that she had a bit of a British accent as well.

"Inventor?" I repeated, "Wait, so does that mean you're some kind of famous genius? What have you invented?"

"O-Oh? Uh, you probably don't know about them, seeing as your memories are all messed up," Charlotte began to say, seemingly a bit flustered, "But my most famous invention is probably the lie detector one. It uh, has a 99% accuracy rate, and it's currently pending to become standardized use in the police force."

"Wow, really?" I asked in awe, "That's...pretty amazing. How did you even make something like that?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really," she grinned modestly, "I just worked on an existing concept and improved it. Anyone could've done it...at least, if they'd thought of it first."

"Wait, you're the one who made that new lie detector?" The boy asked, eyes widening slightly, "The run that weeds...er, I mean," He began to sweat as he corrected himself, "The one that reads voice frequencies?"

"That's right," Charlotte smiled proudly, ignoring his minor mis-speak, though her smile faltered slightly as she continued, "But, how do you know the part about the voice frequencies? That's not supposed to be public knowledge yet."

"My uh, my Dad's a detective." The boy said awkwardly, "He tells me about this kind of stuff all the time. Er, speaking of which, I should probably introduce myself now too."

"My name's Jean-Peal Moreau, though everyone can just call me JP. I'm here as the Ultimate Sketch Artist."

Jean-Peal could be described in three words: tall, lanky, ginger. He looked to be about six feet even in height, and pretty thin in weight. His unruly orange hair reached to about his neck, and covered his ears. He had a slight spattering of freckles on his face, and a bit of stubble under his chin. He wore a white dress shirt with a burgundy jacket that was left open and unbuttoned, along with a pair of jeans and old sneakers that looked like he'd owned for years. If I wasn't mistaken, he also seemed to have a slight and hardly-noticeable French accent.

"A Sketch Artist, huh?" I said, "What kind of sketching do you do?"

"Well, all kinds really," Jean-Peal replied, "But I'm really only any good at sketching people. I've practically got a photographic memory when it comes to details about people's features."

"Wow, that's kind of creepy," Charlotte said, shaking her head. Jean-Peal looked absolutely horrified being told such a thing, so she laughed as she said, "Kidding! I'm just kidding! Really, that's really cool that you can do that, it's a great talent, I just like to kid around a lot."

"Don't...kid like that..." he told her hesitantly, letting out a massive sigh of relief, "Anyway, er, shouldn't we get going now? All the other groups already got a huge head start in exploring this school."

Charlotte looked like she wanted to say something to him, but ended up deciding against it and sighed. "Yeah, we should. Let's just go already."

I nodded in agreement, and so the three of us left. As we walked back into the halls, I began to think about my two new friends. My impression of the two of them was that they seemed nice, though they had...contrasting personalities, to say the least. They'd probably never associate with each other outside of a situation like this, I figured. I liked them though, and I felt like I could trust them.

Once we were back in the halls, we contemplated where we should go first. There were four paths that lead into the four compass directions, with us having come from the south hall. Jean-Peal told us the classrooms were to the east, so we decided to go back there first to see if maybe there were any other students. However, once we traveled down the hall for a bit, we found our path immediately blocked by a wall. A single student was standing there, fists clenched as he stared at the wall.

"What the hell?" Jean-Peal exclaimed in surprise, "What happened to the classrooms?"

"I know for sure there was a hallway here!" Charlotte insisted, "We woke up here just half an hour ago! How is it just, gone?"

"I just...do not understand," the boy staring at the wall began to mutter under his breath, who I began to recognize as the student with the Russian accent, "It just is not logical."

"Hey, are you ok?" I asked, hesitantly reaching out to tap him on the shoulder. He turned around before I could touch him though, and as he faced he me, he gave me a look that plainly showed his bewilderment.

"Do not touch me," he warned me, "What do you want?"

"We just wanted to make sure you're ok," Jean-Peal quickly explained, "We're pretty freaked out about the classroom hall suddenly disappearing too, but you look like you're taking it especially hard."

"It is...that is to say, I do not...hmm..." The boy began to say, seemingly unsure of how to put together his thoughts. "It just...does not make any sense, it is not logical. I am very confused by this entire situation. None of this bodes very well with me at all."

"Tell me about it," Charlotte agreed, "I have to ask though, how come you're here on your own? Everyone else is in groups."

"I...do not take well to working with others." The boy said as he lowered his eyes slightly, "I am what you call, eh..."

"A lone wolf?" I asked. He nodded. "Huh. That seems a little counter-productive right now though, don't you think?"

"Not to mention edgy," Charlotte added. That just caused him to glare at us.

"Er...anyway, what's your name?" I asked. He gave me an odd look, before a look of realization ran across his face.

"Ah, that is right, you are the Amnesiac one," he replied, "We all introduced ourselves earlier, when you were unconscious.

"My name is Mikhail Shistakov, and I go by the title of the Ultimate Chess Player."

Mikhail stood a bit shorter then Jean-Peal, but looked just as thin. He had short dark brown hair, and wide grey eyes to go along with his pale skin. He dressed simply, wearing a white shirt, black trousers, and black and white checkered sneakers.

"Chess seems like it'd be a tough field to prove yourself in," I commented, "You wouldn't just be competing against other students, but adults as well, just to prove your skill."

"That is correct," Mikhail nodded, "It has been quite a challenge. However, I have aced every single tournament I have ever entered. I definitely deserve my title."

"It doesn't seem like it's worked out though," Jean-Peal said with a sigh, "You're trapped in a school with a creepy teddy bear because you were so good. We all are."

"Yes, things have not worked out as planned..." Mikhail muttered, "And our situation seems to just keep becoming stranger." He motioned to the wall that was blocking off access to the classrooms.

"I still don't get how that's possible," Charlotte groaned, "There wasn't anything like this wall here before."

"Really? Nothing at all?" I asked. Mikhail simply nodded in response. "Have you noticed anything about it then? Like how it could've been moved there?" Mikhail had thoughtful look for a moment or so, but then just shrugged. He didn't really seem to want to talk much.

"What? Do you think we could learn something from examining it or something?" Jean-Peal asked me. After a moment of hesitation, I nodded, and then walked up to the wall and began knocking on it at certain spots.

"It doesn't sound hollow..." I noted, "If it did, that would mean it's a fake wall, I think. But it feels and sounds dense..."

"That means it couldn't have been moved there then, right?" Charlotte asked.

"I don't know," I answered as I continued to examine the wall, "I don't see any grooves at the bottom or the sides, so I don't see how it could. It's probably way too heavy to move without some kind of mechanism."

As I turned around to face the three of them, I could see that Jean-Peal had folded his arms and was giving me a quizzical stare. I couldn't help but feel a little weirded out by that.

"I-Is something wrong?" I asked.

"...No, it's nothing." He waved my question away.

"Things just keep getting weirder around here," Charlotte sighed, "I hope the rest of the school isn't like this."

"Go on ahead then," Mikhail said with a wave before turning back towards the wall, "I wish to think on my own for now."

With that, we decided to go back and head down the northern hallway. The first thing we found was a couple of bathrooms, but we figured there wouldn't be anything worth taking a look at and moved on. Next was a door with a plaque on the wall next to it that read "STORAGE". We opened the door and entered, and found ourselves in a large storage room. Packaged food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, spare clothes, and an assortment of many other things that I could not name all at once, all lined the shelves. It was surprising how much stuff was being stored here, there was so much there it almost looked infinite.

We weren't alone though. Two other people were in there, one of whom I recognized as the shy girl named Hutchins. The other was the boy with the thick English accent, though it took me a little while longer to recognize him.

"O-Oh, hello," the girl said when she realized we'd entered the room, "I didn't hear the door open. Did you just get here?" She had a smile on her face, but I could tell she looked nervous.

"Yeah, sorry, we didn't mean to surprise you," Charlotte told her, having also seen her nervousness.

"Nah mate, you didn't surprise anyone," the English boy jumped into the conversation with a smile, "There's three of you, and you've all got heavy steps. Ya couldn't sneak up on my deaf grandma if ya tried."

"That's fair," I agreed, then asked, "Is it just you two in here?"

"Y-Yeah," Hutchins answered, "We've been looking through the stuff here, but there's just so much..."

"N-No kidding," Jean-Peal said, avoiding eye contact with her, and whistling in awe as he eyed a particularly stuffed-to-the-brim shelf, "You'd need a full group to search in here all day just to make a dent."

"I know, right?" The English boy replied, "There's jus' a wee bit too much shit in here. Eh, Hutchins?"

"Y-You know that's just my last name..." She mumbled in response, before looking at me, "O-Oh, that's right, you don't know our names.

"M-My name's Jesse Hutchins...I'm the Ultimate Sidekick."

Jesse had black hair, with a giant cowlick bang with a grey highlight in front. She looked somewhat lanky, but not quite; she honestly just had something close to an average body type. She wore a white T-shirt under an open short-sleeve denim jacket, along with black-and-red tennis shoes.

"An Ultimate Sidekick?" I asked, "How does that work?"

"I-I'm not exactly sure myself," Jesse mumbled, "B-But, I guess I'm just...really good at supporting people."

"It's definitely an interesting talent," I remarked, "How did you get recruited as a Sidekick?"

"Umm..." She mumbled, looking more and more uncomfortable by the minute, "I...don't really know. It just sort of happened."

"Hey, if it bothers you we don't have to keep talking about it," Charlotte told her.

"Th-Thanks," Jesse said with a sigh of relief, "I just don't like having so much attention on me...it makes me anxious." Charlotte nodded understandably.

"Right, then maybe I could take the spotlight for now," the English boy suggested.

"Name's Wilson Young, Ultimate Engineer. Nice to meet ya."

Standing just past six feet in height, he was the tallest student so far. He had a pretty average body type and pale skin, from what I could tell. His hair was black; if I had to describe it, I'd have to say it kind of looked like a Superman-style hairdo-just without the curl on the forehead. His eyes were a blue-grey, though they were somewhat obscured by a pair of black eyeglasses with rather large lenses. As for his outfit, he wore short sleeve button-down shirt, which had a design full of small squares, with each one being either red, blue, or white, kind of reminding me of a retro 3D effect. He had dark blue skinny jeans and black and white converse shoes to go along with it.

"Wow, we've got an Engineer and an Inventor in the same class," I remarked, "That's a pretty amazing combination. And you're both so young too; that's more than talent, it's prodigious."

"Ha, so you're the Inventor, issat right?" Wilson asked, looking at Charlotte with a grin, "We'd make quite a duo, dontcha' think?"

"Uh..." Charlotte said slowly, "I have a boyfriend."

"..."

"...Well that's awkward," Jean-Peal eventually stated the obvious.

"Ey, I didn't mean it like that," Wilson mumbled, his cheeks blushed slightly, "I meant like, working partners."

"O-Oh!" Charlotte said, looking a bit embarrassed herself.

"A-Anyway," I interjected, trying to ease the awkward situation, "How did you pick up Engineering as a talent?"

"Oh, er, well it's a long story," Wilson answered, "But the short version is that my family was poor, and as a way to help I fixed stuff of ours that was broken. Turns out I had quite a knack for that kind of thing. It just kinda took off from there right quick."

It was around this time that a loud noise went off right beside us, causing us to flinch (and in Wilson's case, jump) in surprise. Looking at the source of the noise, we could see Jesse crouching by a heavy looking box. She'd apparently gotten distracted during our conversation and had been looking through the shelves.

"S-Sorry! I'm so sorry!" Jesse squeaked, "I thought I saw something cool on the shelf but I ended up knocking something over!"

"It's ok, it was an accident," Charlotte told her, resting a hand on her chest and letting out a sigh of relief as she spoke, "You just scared us."

"Try ta be more bloody careful, will ya!" Wilson exclaimed, bent over and resting his hands on his knees as he tried to regain his breath, "Nearly gave me a goddamn heart attack..."

"I-I'm really sorry..." Jesse apologized, her voice barely above a whisper. I could tell that she was desperately trying to hold back tears, and Wilson must had seen that as well, as he shook his head and sighed.

"Ey, it's alright, you didn't do it on purpose." He told her quietly, "I'm just kinda jumpy is all. Really, it's fine."

"R-Really?" Jesse asked, eyes slightly wide, "Ok...thank you..."

"Yeah, no problem," Wilson told her, a small grin returning to his face, "Here, I'll help you put it back, it looks kind of heavy ta do it on your own." He looked over at us. "Why don't you three head off? Jesse and I'll take care of this mess and keep looking for anything useful."

"Alright, we'll see you later at the Gym," I responded, and so Charlotte, Jean-Peal and I left the Storage Room. We returned to hallways, and after making it make to the crossroads, we took the last remaining path and headed west. About halfway down the hall, we found another door. This one had a plaque as well, which read "INFIRMARY". The three of us headed in, and found ourselves in a not-so-typical-looking Nurse Infirmary. Everything looked clean, sterile, and in pristine condition. There were cabinets and drawer sets along the walls, likely filled with medicine, as well as several beds, a medical refrigerator, a few wheelchairs, and even a private bathroom. Overall, the Infirmary looked very well-stocked and up-to-date.

Just like in the Storage Room, there were two people already in the room. One was a boy who sitting on a bed, who I recognized as the Hypnotist. The other was a girl, who was looking through one of the drawers. I didn't really recognize her, as she had been one of the quieter students back in the Gymnasium.

"Aiz, I think someone's come in," the boy stated. The girl known as Aiz turned away from the drawers and faced us.

"...It appears someone has." Aiz responded to him, an indifferent expression on her face, "Three people, in fact."

"Oh, three?" The boy asked, "Let me guess...it's the Inventor, the Sketch Artist, and the Amnesiac. Am I right?"

"You're looking at us, aren't you?" Charlotte questioned, "Can't you tell?"

"Hmm...I suppose I should be able to tell," the boy answered, "Or at least, I would, if I wasn't..."

"...Wasn't what?" I asked, genuinely confused by his crypticness.

"Oh, I thought it was obvious," the boy said with a shrug, "I'm a bit...visually challenged."

"What, you need glasses?" Jean-Peal asked.

"He's blind." Aiz said simply.

"Hey, spoiler alert!" The boy snapped, before sighing and continuing, "But yes, I'm blind."

"R-Really?" I gasped.

"We're sorry," Charlotte said apologetically, "We couldn't tell at all."

"No need to apologize," the boy said with yet another shrug, "I can usually pass pretty well as a normal, not-blind-as-heck person." He leaned forward in his seat a bit, seemingly looking me in the eyes. Seeing as, you know, he shouldn't actually be able to see me, it made me feel nervous. "You...You're the Amnesiac, right? Normally I wouldn't have to introduce myself, but since you can't remember anything, I should probably let you know who I am."

"I am the great Spinel Labelle, and I am known as the Ultimate Hypnotist!"

Spinel looked like a very slender kid, while also standing around 6'2". Tall, lanky, and thin was apparently a trend at Sky's Peak Academy. He had an oval face, with thin lips, a bit of a long and pointy nose, but wide brown eyes. His hair was black, and kept well-trimmed above his ears and slicked back. He was dressed pretty nicely, wearing a white long-sleeved button up with a red sweater over it, and black slacks with a silver chain from his pocket watch hanging out of his right front pocket, as well as brown oxford shoes. Beside him on the bed was a wooden cane with a red crystal on top, which may or may not had been an a walking stick.

"A blind Hypnotist?" Jean-Peal asked, "How does that work?"

"There are more forms of hypnotism than just waving a watch in someone's face and counting to three," Spinel explained, "Hypnotism is actually a very psychologically-based practice."

"Oh, right..." Jean-Peal said with an awkward smile, rubbing the back of his head.

"So, is 'Spinel Labelle' a stage name then?" I asked.

"That's right," Spinel nodded, "How clever of you to figure that out."

I had a feeling that was sarcasm and that I was meant to feel insulted.

"Uh, what's your real name then?" Charlotte asked cautiously. She obviously didn't want to be the next target of his snark.

"I'd like to keep some aspects of myself a secret," Spinel told her, "I'm not really much of an open book, I guess. You can try social linking me later if you'd like, though."

"Right..." Charlotte replied, lowering her eyes slightly. There was a bit of an awkward silence after that.

I looked over to the quiet girl, Aiz. She didn't seem to be up for talking, but I wanted to at least meet her.

"Yes?" She asked, having caught me looking.

"Uh, I've been trying to meet everyone and learn everyone's names," I replied somewhat sheepishly, "Could you, uh, tell me about yourself?"

"What, bored with me already?" Spinel asked, feigning hurt feelings.

"N-No, I just, I want to meet everyone," I stammered, "I should be doing that, shouldn't I?"

"I was just messing with you," Spinel said, shrugging for the third time now.

"Uh..." I was just becoming more and more uncomfortable the longer the conversation with Spinel went on. I turned back to Aiz, and so she decided to give her introduction.

"...Aiz Espensen. Ultimate Pharmacist."

Aiz was very short, barely cracking five feet, and looked like she had a rather petite figure to boot. She had a very basic heart shaped face free of blemishes, with a pair of dominating steely blue eyes, set off by a small button nose and a smattering of freckles across her cheeks. She had curly black hair that fell around her shoulders due to being held back with a head band. For her outfit, she was wearing a sleeveless collared dress, the skirt and collar being a deep navy blue while the bodice was white. She topped it off with a long, grey cardigan and black thigh high socks with a pair of grey lace up boots.

"Oh, a Pharmacist," I commented, "Makes sense why you're in the Infirmary then."

"Mhm." Was all Aiz said.

"Um, how's it worked out for you?" Charlotte asked, "Being a Pharmacist sounds like it would be tough."

"It's worked out well." Aiz replied.

"Aiz doesn't talk much," Spinel told us, "Don't even think about underestimating her though. You know what they say about the quiet ones, right?"

"Beware?" Jean-Peal guessed.

"Bingo." Spinel told him, flashing a finger gun at him. "Anyway, as fun as this has been, it's probably about time you guys scattered. There's plenty more exploration to do, after all."

"Right," I replied, "We'll see you later then." Spinel and Aiz both nodded, and with that, our little group left the Infirmary and continued down the western hall.

The people I'd met so far were definitely an...interesting bunch. And there were still seven more to meet. As I began to wonder where they all were, we came upon an open entrance way, with a sign above it that read "TO STUDENT ZONE". Apparently, we were currently in the School Zone. Seeing as we didn't have a map, we weren't sure what to expect.

All we knew, was that there was still plenty more exploration to do, and students to meet.

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 **A/N: And so concludes the first half of the introductions. I hope I wrote your characters as accurately and in-character as possible. If there's anywhere that I messed up, feel free to correct me. As for when the next update will be out, I'm hoping to have it done as early as Thursday, the latest being next Saturday.  
**


	4. Chapter 4: Prologue Part 3

**A/N: The support this is getting is great, as a writer it makes me so happy to see all of your reviews! I really do smile every time I see a new review posted, just seeing that some of you like this enough to comment and give insight about the chapters is just so wonderful. I'd like say now though that, even though I haven't been replying individually to reviews, it isn't because I'm ignoring you all. I'm honestly just shy and terrible at starting conversations/sending the first PM, haha. It's why I try to address everyone altogether in these Author Notes, I just really want you all to know how grateful I am for your support.**

 **I'm also really glad that the first batch of characters were well-received. The submitters created some really interesting and multi-layered characters, and I want to do them justice, and so far I apparently am according to you all. I hope that these next seven characters are just as liked and that I wrote them just as well.**

 **One last thing before I continue with the story. I'm sorry this chapter came out so late, especially since I'd given a prediction of this coming out sometime between Thursday and Saturday. And, well, it's way past that time frame. A combination of IRL stuff coming up, internet connection issues, and just plain and simple writer's block ended up delaying this chapter. Not only that, but I type everything on my phone since I don't have a computer or laptop, so that slows things down as well. So again, I'm really sorry that this chapter came out so late. Hopefully, what I've written will be good enough to make up for it.**

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When the three of us entered the Student Zone, we found ourselves in a rather open-spaced area. To our right was more open space, with a door on each of the northern, western, and eastern walls, as well as a hallway that went east. To our left was a hallway that went south until it turned right at the end of it, and was filled with doors along the walls. We decided to check out the door-filled halls first, and so we headed to the left.

As we approached the halls, we quickly noticed that each of the many doors had a plaque to the side of them. On closer inspection, we could see that each plaque had a pixelized sprite (which we soon realized were meant to resemble each of the students) along with a student's name engraved below each one.

"Are these the dorms?" Jean-Peal asked.

"It looks like it..." Charlotte answered, "There's something...'off,' about them though."

"I'd say," I agreed. We continued down the hall and took the right turn, finding not only more doors, but two people standing in the hall as well, a boy and a girl. I didn't recognize them too well, as they hadn't talked much when we had been in the Gymnasium. Just like the others though, I'd figured it would be best to meet them, and so I walked up to them, hearing part of a conversation between them as I walked up to them.

"...uneasy about these pictures," I heard the boy tell the girl, "This environment isn't good for you at all."

"You're worrying too much," she said with a sigh, "This really isn't a big deal. Everything's gonna be fine, I'm sure it will. Just please, cool it a bit."

"I wish I had your confidence," the boy replied, "But if you say you're fine, then I believe you. If you later start to feel anxious, however-"

"Raeger, I'm serious!" The girl told him, her voice raising slightly, "I don't need you to be my mom right now. Just, try to be a normal teenager for once." She saw him tense up, so she reached out a hand to gently touch his forearm. It was hardly noticeable, but he flinched when she touched him, though he still seemed to ease up right after.

"Listen..." She began to tell him, "I know you're just watching out for me, but-"

It was at about this time, that the two of them finally noticed me.

"Uh, sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop," I apologized quickly, "I've just been trying to meet everyone while my group and I explore around the school."

"Really?" The girl replied, "...Oh, you're the Amnesiac guy, right?"

I nodded.

"Ok, that makes sense," the girl continued, loosely folding her arms as she spoke, "Those two your lackeys then?" She motioned to Charlotte and Jean-Peal, who had followed after me once I'd gotten the two people's attention.

"Wh-What?" Jean-Peal said in surprise, "No, we're not-"

"Gotcha!" The girl said with a grin, "You two are just good people, right? It's real nice of you two to be watching out for the poor guy. If this was a mystery novel, he'd be the most at-risk character in a locked-room case like this. Or, locked-school case, in this situation."

"A-At risk?" I stuttered, "At risk for what?"

"Dude, I'm still just joking!" The girl giggled, "I'm sure you're not at-risk for anything. I mean, no one's gonna die here, right?"

" _That's_ what you were implying?" Charlotte gasped.

"Sheesh, tough crowd," the girl sighed defeatedly, "A little dark humor never hurt anyone, you know."

"Tori, you're scaring your peers again," the boy, who the girl had called Raeger, told her.

"Aw, seriously?" Tori playfully whined.

"We're not scared," I told the two of them, "Just a little thrown off. No one else has really been in a humorous mood."

"I tried joking around earlier," Charlotte noted, "It wasn't really well-received either."

"Oh, well I guess this _is_ kind of a serious situation," Tori replied, "It's a little hard to just turn off the comedy though, you know? Well, I guess you wouldn't know, Mr. Amnesiac."

"Is that my new name now?" I asked, "You're not the first to call a variation of that."

"Well, it doesn't exactly roll off my tounge with ease," Tori said, "But it's pretty fitting, yeah? Speaking of which I should probably tell you my name too."

"I am Viktoria Dragomir, Ultimate Comedian, at your service."

Viktoria had pale grey eyes and pretty pale skin with a smallish face. She looked small and quick, standing at about 5'7; so she was somewhat tall but also pretty lanky and scrawny. I had joked about that being a trend earlier but it was certainly proving to be true. Can a body type even be a trend? Anyway, moving on. Her hair was dark blonde, and reached down to her chest, though currently it was being worn up in a messy bun. She was wearing dark blue jeans, along with a loose pale purple blouse and an oversized purple jacket that was worn over it. She also wore mint green converse on her feet, and had a set of silver earrings with one resembling a queen chess piece, and the other a knight chess piece.

"Well, I could definitely see how you were accepted as a Comedian," I said with a nod.

"Oh, good, you thought I was funny," Viktoria said with a sigh of relief. She then noticed that Charlotte was staring at her...or, well, examining might be a better word. "Is something wrong?" She asked her.

"No, it's just..." Charlotte began to say, "I really like your outfit."

I looked back and forth between the two of them. I could see why she liked Viktoria's clothes.

"Well, you two are dressed pretty similarly," I commented.

"Really?" Viktoria asked, "I don't see it."

She looked down at herself and then at Charlotte. They both were wearing dark blue jeans and a purple blouse, they even both had their hair up in a bun, which I'm sure was just a coincidence. It was a funny coincidence though, at least to me.

"Purple is just a pretty color," Viktoria continued, shrugging her shoulders, "And I don't usually put my hair in a bun, I was just too lazy to fix it up nice this morning."

Viktoria looked at Raeger expectantly after that.

"What?" He asked quietly.

"Dude, that was your perfect chance to say 'Don't you mean every morning?' You always nag me about being so lazy all the time. That would've been the perfect snarky comment."

"You know I'm not that good at on-the-spot humor..." He mumbled, looking away to try to avoid everyone's gaze.

"Oh, you two know each other then?" Jean-Peal asked, and though he'd seemed to direct the question more towards Raeger, it was Viktoria who responded.

"That's right," she began to tell them, "We're partners, actually. We've known each other for awhile now."

"Aw, how sweet," Charlotte said with a smile, "You two are a really cute couple."

Raeger immediately started to choke on air and began coughing once she said that. Viktoria's response wasn't nearly as extreme, though her eyes becoming as wide as dinner plates showed that she was just as shocked by that statement.

"N-No! Oh God no!" Viktoria stammered, "I-I meant working partners!"

"I-I'm so sorry!" Charlotte gasped.

"Why do you keep thinking that 'partners' means 'boyfriend and girlfriend'?" Jean-Peal asked Charlotte with a sigh.

"I don't know!" Charlotte snapped at him, "I mean, it's not like it's obvious they aren't dating! They kind of act like a couple!" She calmed down a bit, and turned to Viktoria and added, "Um, sorry, I didn't mean to assume..."

"Well, you kind of did," Viktoria replied bluntly, "It's not really a big deal though, you just, caught me off guard." Her and Raeger had recovered by now, though I could tell that his cheeks were still somewhat flushed red.

"I don't think you'll mind me changing the subject, right?" I asked. Everyone predictably shook their head no, so I continued, "So, we're in the dorms area, right?"

"Yeah, I think so," Viktoria replied, "Raeger and I already checked all the doors, and they're all locked right now, so there's not much to explore here. All of the doors each have a pixelized sprite that resemble each of us, so I'm guessing that's meant to show off who's room is whose."

"That's...not entirely true," Raeger spoke up quietly, "Three of the doors don't have sprites."

"Oh yeah, that's right," Viktoria nodded.

"Why three?" Jean-Peal asked. "Is there anything special about them?"

"Well, not exactly," Viktoria hummed, "As it turns out, even though there's only fifteen of us here, there are eighteen doors for some reason. The extra three doors are the only ones without sprites."

"That's strange..." Charlotte said.

"Definitely," Viktoria agreed.

"Do you think, maybe...there are other students here?" Charlotte asked, a surprisingly hopeful tone to her voice.

"If the extra doors had sprites on them, it'd make me think so." I hypothesized, "Since they don't though, it's possible they're just extras in case we were going to have a bigger class."

"Hmm..." Charlotte had a thoughtful look on her face, but didn't say anything more.

"If that's everything, maybe we should move on." Jean-Peal suggested, to which Charlotte and I nodded.

"We'll see you three later then," Viktoria told us, giving us a quick wave of goodbye. Just as we were about to leave though, I turned to look at Raeger.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to ask who you are," I told him. He looked surprised, and looked over at Viktoria, to which she responded by just prodding him with a playful elbow jab.

"Very well..." Raeger muttered, as he then addressed me.

"My name is Raeger Cruz, and I work with Tori as the Ultimate Manager."

Raeger looked to have a good six inches of height on Viktoria, standing at 6'1, and from what I could tell he had a somewhat athletic build. He had neat and short light brown hair to match with a set of hazel eyes. His skin was a peachy color, and overall he had a nice complexion with classically handsome features. He wore a suit that made him look rather formal and high class, and was kept prim and proper.

"Raeger Cruz...I'll remember that." I told him. We exchanged goodbyes, and the three of us left them to continue down the hallway. The hall turned the right once again at the end of it, and after going through it all the way, we found ourselves back in the open-area. Across from us, we could see the entrance way to the School Zone, where we had originally come from. The dorm halls apparently circled back around to here, which I guess was pretty convenient, as it meant that one could enter the dorm halls from either the eastern or western sides.

Seeing as we were currently in the western part of the area, we next decided to check the west door. Like every other door in this building, it had a plaque next to it, with this one reading "TRASH ROOM". We opened the door and entered, only to find one person in the room...along with Monokuma, surprisingly.

"Why the hell's there a gate?" The boy asked the bear, gesturing to the gate that, from what we could tell, was blocking access to what looked like an garbage incinerator.

"Because it's safety protocol!" Monokuma explained, "Wouldn't it be dangerous if all of the students could have access to the incinerator at all times? I'd basically be _asking_ for one of you bastards to start a fire!"

"How's anyone supposed ta be able to use it if it's always locked up then? Dumbass!" The boy said angrily.

"How un _bear_ lievably rude!" Monokuma gasped, "Well, I _was_ going to tell you, but ugly, rude, and ugly children like you don't deserve to know such important information like that!" With that, Monokuma then giggled before leaping backwards and sinking into the floor as if it was quicksand.

"You said ugly twice, asshole!" The boy yelled, shaking his fist at where Monokuma had disappeared, "Piece of shit bear..." He turned around to leave, only to see us standing there. Now that we could see his face, we could tell that he was the boy with the scars from back at the Gymnasium.

"The hell do you want?" The boy asked gruffly as he glared at us.

"We uh, we're just trying to explore around the school," I answered nervously. I could tell that Charlotte and Jean-Peal were just as nervous to be in a small room with this guy as I was.

"Well, there's nothing here," the boy told us, "That damn bear locked up the only interestin' thing in this room."

"Y-Yeah, we heard..." Jean-Peal mumbled.

"The hell's your problem?" The boy asked, apparently having caught on to our nervousness.

"N-Nothing! It's nothing!" Charlotte quickly answered. It was obvious it wasn't nothing though.

"Listen, I know I look fucked up, but that's no excuse for y'all to be acting like jackasses," the boy sighed, "If you've got a problem, just say it. And stop fucking staring, it's weird."

"Sorry," I apologized, "It's just...I've never seen anyone with scars like that. You're kind of a scary person."

"...Well, at least you're honest," the boy sighed again, as he leaned against a nearby wall and crossed his arms over his chest, "How would ya know if ya never seen anyone with scars though? Aren't you the forgetful guy? What's that called again? Euthanasia?"

"Uh, it's amnesia," Jean-Peal corrected him, "But yeah, we've been just as confused about that as you are. He apparently remembers general stuff like that, but nothing about his actual life."

"Huh. You're weirder than me then, kid," the boy replied. I was going to interject about not wanting to be called a kid, but then I realized that I didn't even know how old I was.

"I guess I am," I eventually conceded.

"Well, since there's nothing to see here, shouldn't we look somewhere else?" Charlotte asked.

"I guess..." I replied, "Oh, wait, I forgot to ask." I turned to look at the boy. "Can you tell me who you are? I'm trying to learn everyone's names."

"Huh?" The boy said, looking somewhat surprised, "Er, sure, I guess."

"Name's Charles McCrimmon, but I swear to God, if any of you call me Charles I'll kick your ass. Just Charlie is good, got it? I got accepted here as the Ultimate Billiards Pro."

Charlie stood at around 6'1, and had a lean build with broad shoulders. He had a squarish jaw and a pug nose, and his hair was black, short and slicked back. He had round brown eyes, but his left eye looked somewhat glossy, and had a scar over it.

His most prominent scar however, was the one on his mouth. It looked like someone had took a knife and had gashed him along the sides of his face, making it look like he had a permanent smile despite not actually smiling. I believe that kind of scar was called a Glasgow Smile, with The Joker from the DC Universe being one of the most famous examples of it.

Despite that, Charlie definitely was not dressed like a comic book villian. He wore a red silk shirt under a black leather vest for the top, black pants with white pinstripes for the bottom, and a pair of black wingtip shoes.

"Billiards...?" Jean-Peal asked, a quizzical look on his face.

"That's another name for pool," Charlotte explained.

"So he's a swimmer...?" Jean-Peal asked further, still clearly confused, "I never would've guessed."

"Not that kind of pool, dumbass!" Charlie snapped at him, "Don't you know what a pool table is?"

"Oh! That kind of pool!" Jean-Peal exclaimed in realization. "But, I still didn't expect that either. You look like some kind of streetfighter, or maybe a knife fighter."

"...Weren't you gonna leave?" Charlie said slowly, suddenly stiffening up and looking much more sullen.

"Uh, yeah, we were," I replied, realizing that he wanted us to leave now, "We'll see you later then." He didn't respond, as the three of us left the Trash Room. We stepped back into the open area, and decided to check the northern door next. However, before we could go there, we could hear yelling and arguing sounds from somewhere nearby. We looked to find the source of the noises, and soon noticed that the eastern door, which was near the entrance way to the School Zone, was left ajar. We hurried over to the door, taking note that the plaque next to it read "LAUNDRY ROOM", and went inside.

We found ourselves in a pretty typical laundry room. Washing and drying machines lined the back wall, with the only things in the room being a large folding table with a few chairs around it, as well as a laundry line for air-drying clothes hanging from the ceiling.

There were also two people in here as well, both of them girls, and apparently the ones who were fighting. I recognized both of them pretty easily, as they'd both left prominent impressions on me. One was the rude girl who had been insulting people non-stop, and the other was the punk-haired girl with the lighter.

"I swear to God, if you don't shut the hell up I'm gonna kick youer butt!" The punk girl yelled at the rude girl.

"Gee, why don't you try saying something that's not predictable garbage for once," the rude girl replied in a bored tone.

"Wow, ya really know how ta piss someone off," the punk girl growled, angrily flipping her lighter on and off again like she'd been doing back at the Gymnasium, "What the hell makes ya feel like youer so high and mighty, eh? Actin' like youer such hot stuff and the like."

"Well, Irish," the rude girl began to say, a smirk beginning to grow on her face, "If you really want to know, I'll just tell you: I'm the most important and talented person in this school."

"What!?" The punk girl gasped, "Bull! What's youer talent then, hot stuff?"

"Hmm...I don't think I'll tell you, actually," the rude girl responded simply.

"What!?" The punk girl exclaimed again, "Why the hell not?"

"Does that piss you off?" The rude girl asked. The punk girl nodded, so the rude girl continued, "Then that's why. It's hilarious watching you blow up over something so stupid."

"I knew ya were just screwin' with me!" The punk girl exclaimed angrily, "I bet youer not important at all!"

"Oh no, I'm definitely important," the rude girl replied with a wider smirk, "More important than all of the students in the country combined."

"My name is Jane Smith. Remember it, you filthy fucking peasant. I'm one and only Ultimate Avian Vet, which is obviously the most objectively important talent in the entire world."

Standing at 5'1 tall, Jane was short and looked a little chunky and frumpy. She had a chubby face, with green eyes and long brown hair that went past her shoulders, and also had bangs that covered her forehead. She wore a blue sweatshirt with black sweatpants and white sneakers. Overall, I got the impression that she cared very little about how she looked.

"...Really? That's it?" The punk girl asked, obviously disappointed, "That's a helluva let down after all that hyping you did. And did you seriously just call me a frickin' peasant?"

"If you can't see how being an Avian Vet is objectively better than every other talent in the galaxy, then that's your fault for being ignorant trash," Jane replied coolly, "And yes, I did just seriously call you a fucking peasant. You fucking peasant."

"Man, I can't take ya seriously now," the punk girl said with a sigh, "That's literally the most childish thing I've ever heard."

"Says the girl with the attention-whore haircut and weird fire fetish," Jane said bluntly.

"H-Hey!" The punk girl exclaimed, "There's nothin' wrong with wantin' attention! And it's not a fetish! Just because I woulda preferred bein' accepted to this school as a Pyromaniac, doesn't mean I have a fire fetish! It's more like...like a fire interest!"

"Gross," Jane said, disgust apparent in her voice, "How did a freak like you even get accepted to this school?"

"Stop with the rude names already!" The punk girl told her, "I got accepted because I'm the best at what I do!"

"Stop callin' me rude names, my name is Keahi McGovern! Not Irish, not peasant, and not freak! I got accepted as the Ultimate Pyrotechnics Expert! Which is way more impressive than youer dumb bird talent!"

Keahi looked to be about average height, but it was hard to tell due to her slumping a bit and having bad posture. She had a somewhat slender generic feminine figure, had warm, caramel-brown skin, and had freckles on her somewhat long face. Her hair was dyed a mix of hot pink and red-orange, was very unruly, about medium-length, and seemed to explode out in every direction . Her eyes were almond-shaped and bright green, and she had rather long eyelashes. Her outfit was just as loud as her hair, as she wore a cropped leather jacket with short sleeves and 2 red triangles on the left side, with a hot pink tank top underneath. She wore medium blue jean shorts along with a belt that had an orange triangle on the buckle, to go along with the hot pink and red knee-high stockings over charcoal black combat boots that she wore.

"A Pyrotechnics Expert?" Jane asked, "Sounds lame, like your face."

"That doesn't even make sense!" Keahi yelled for the upteenth time.

"Really?" Jane asked, her voice still monotonous as a poisonous smile crept onto her face, "Why don't you ask our audience. They'll obviously agree that your fire fetish is lame, while praising me for being the absolute most talented and important person in the universe."

Keahi spun around, her eyes widening once she finally realized that Charlotte, Jean-Peal, and I were standing in the room.

"H-How long were ya all standing there for now?" She asked, legitimately surprised to see us there.

"Uh..." Charlotte said, unsure of what to say.

"Long enough," I eventually answered, "We, um, well we honestly had no idea how to let ourselves be known during the middle of all...that."

"Oh..." Keahi muttered in response, looking somewhat embarrassed, "I can't believe I made a fool outta myself in front of ya all. This chick just knows how to push my buttons, yanno?"

"I try my best," Jane commented.

"Ugh!" Keahi grumbled, "I'm just, I'm gonna go before she sets me off again." She quickly shuffled out of the room, leaving just Jane in the room with us. It felt very awkward in the room after that, to say the least.

"So..." Jane eventually began to say, "Do you guys want to hear me call you fat nasty trash for the next fifteen minutes while proclaiming myself to be better than everyone in the multi-verse?"

"Er, no thanks," Charlotte replied.

"I think we should go too...yeah..." Jean-Peal mumbled, and honestly I couldn't have agreed more with him. With that, the three of us quickly abandoned Jane and the Laundry Room and returned to the open area.

There was only one door left now, the one along the northern wall. As we approached it, we read that the plaque next to it read "CAFETERIA". The door itself was actually a double door, and looked much nicer compared to all the other doors we had seen. We pushed them open and entered, and found ourselves in a rather spacious and comfortable cafeteria. Inside were several small lunch tables with a few seats at each table. However, there was also a larger circular lunch table in the middle of the room, with 16 seats settled around it. In the back was another door, that presumably lead to a kitchen of some sort. There were also two people in here, a boy and a girl. The boy I recognized as the feminine-looking one, and the girl was the one with the purple suit who had helped Jesse speak up back in the Gymnasium.

"Oh! Fellow students, welcome!" The boy's voice rang out once we entered, "It is great to see your wonderful faces once again!" It was strange to receive such a warm greeting for once; in all of the other areas we explored, we either accidentally eavesdropped on conversations, or awkwardly introduced ourselves to the other exploring group.

"Oh, hi," I said, unsure exactly how to respond, "You seem rather, uh, happy."

"But of course!" The boy replied with a warm smile, "Trapped we may be, but at least we have such an amazing dining area and kitchen. Jenny and I have explored it all very well, and it is all top-class and state-of-the-art. It is simply beautiful."

"Well you definitely know how to spin a positive out of a negative," Jean-Peal remarked.

"It's hard not to stay positive when something as wonderful as this cafeteria and kitchen exists," the boy replied, before then walking up to me and offering his hand. As I shook it, he then added, "I know you must be very confused about everything that's happening, probably more than everyone else here. So let me help by introducing myself."

"My name is Soleil Tindol, and I am the Ultimate Chocolatier! It is a pleasure to meet you."

Soleil stood at an average height, and had a slender frame with slightly feminine features. He had a round face, with almond-shaped steel-grey eyes, a button nose, and small lips that seemed to be perpetually curved into a smile. He was fair skinned and seemed to be slightly slouched when he stood. His hair was a jet black color and stuck out in a bed head style, though I could still tell that he had both ears pierced, with one having an ear cuff piercing and the other a simple ear steel piercing. For his outfit, he wore a red plaid long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, with a black ribbon tied around the collar of the shirt. Along side that he wore black skinny jeans with white canvas sneakers. He has two plain steel rings: one on the middle finger of his right hand and one on the index finger of his left hand. He wore one last piece a jewelry around his neck; a necklace with a silver pendant on it.

One thing was for certain: Soleil was definitely not shy to accessorizing. He seemed to have the most detailed outfit out of everyone else I had met in the school.

"It's nice to meet you too, Soleil," I replied, "Now I get why you're so in love with this part of the school."

"Ah, you mean because of my talent, right?" Soleil replied, "I may be a Chocolatier, but I love working in a kitchen regardless. Oh, I know, perhaps after our meeting later is done, I can cook up a batch for you all to try. I'll treat you guys to a classic: The Original Soleil Delight!"

"That sounds delicious," Charlotte smiled gratefully, "Thank you, Soleil."

"Yeah, you'll definitely get some brownie points from your classmates for that," Jean-Peal added, "I can't wait to try it."

"Aha, that's wonderful to hear," Soleil said with a bow, "Admittedly, I am hoping that it'll earn me some good favor from everyone, but I hope it'll help ease the tension as well." He sighed, putting his hands on his hips as he looked down dejectedly. "Everyone seems so worried about our situation, but it's probably not even a big deal."

"That's pretty optimistic of you," I told him, "You have to admit that this is all pretty strange though, right?"

"I suppose..." Soleil replied, looking downtrodden for a moment.

"I'm sure there's got to be an explanation though," Charlotte insisted, attempting to cheer Soleil up, "Maybe you're right, this could all end up working out."

Soleil perked up a bit after Charlotte said that

"Everything will be fine, I'm sure," Soleil said, a warm smile on his face as he lightly folded his arms in front of him, "And we can all dine on some of my most delectable treats once everything gets sorted out." He then turned to look at the girl at the purple suit, who had remained quiet and in the background throughout all of this. "Jenny! You haven't said a word this whole time. Please, come over and say hello."

Jenny gave Soleil a look, before saying, "If you wish, Mister Tindol." She walked over to us, and as robotically as possible, she then said, "Hello."

"Uh...hello." Jean-Peal greeted back nervously.

"Come on now, introduce yourself," Soleil told her, before turning to look back at us and saying, "You'll have to forgive Jenny. She can be a bit distant, but in the short time I've gotten to know her, I've learned that she's a really nice girl."

"You have learned absolutely nothing at all about me, Mister Tindol." Jenny told him coldly, "And I don't like feeling pressured to say more than I have to."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Jenny," Soleil apologized, "I didn't know I was making you feel uncomfortable."

"You weren't." Jenny replied.

"You don't have to talk to us if you don't want to," I told her, "Can you at least tell me who you are? You're the only student left that I haven't met yet."

Jenny had a thoughtful look on her face for a moment, and after several moments more of silence, she eventually said, "I suppose."

"My name is Jenny Deerly. I am the Ultimate Assistant."

Jenny looked to be pretty tall for her age, maybe 5'10 or 5'11, and was very thin. Her face was quite feminine, though she seemed to use very little make-up, which made her freckles very noticeable. It went well with her ginger hair that was tied up in a ponytail. She wore a light purple business suit with dark purple heels, as well as orange trimmed glasses. Overall, she looked like she tried to keep up a professional appearance at all times.

"Ultimate Assistant?" I repeated, "What are you an Assistant for?"

"Wherever I am needed." Jenny replied simply.

"So you could work as an Assistant anywhere then?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes." Jenny told her.

"...You don't talk much, do you?" I asked. It was obvious that it was a rhetorical question.

"Like I said, I would rather not speak more than necessary," Jenny answered, "Long and drawn-out conversations are not an efficient use of time."

"Speaking of which," Jean-Peal cut in, "Maybe we should go finish exploring? It's almost been an hour now, and there's still one last hallway to explore."

"Right," I agreed, before then telling Soleil and Jenny, "I'll see you guys later then."

"I will be looking forward to meeting you again," Soleil said as he bowed once more. We waved goodbye, and then left the Cafeteria.

Once we were back in the open area, we looked towards the final hallway and approached it. It was in the north-eastern corner of the area, and the hallway itself lead to the east. We traveled down it, and about halfway down, we found a stair case that was blocked off by a retractable gate. The stairs seemed to lead up to the second floor, but the stairs seemed to go down as well to what looked like a basement floor.

"This is weird..." Charlotte said, "Did Monokuma block these stairs off?"

"Probably," Jean-Peal guessed, "There's gotta be something above us _and_ below us that he doesn't want us to know about."

"But why?" I asked. None of us had an answer. There was nothing else we could do, so we continued down the hallway. At the end of it, we found another set of double doors similar to the ones at the Cafeteria, though these were covered in a red velvet. I tried to open them, but they were locked.

"I wonder where these lead to..." Jean-Peal thought out loud.

"Wait, hasn't every other door had plaque labeling the room?" Charlotte asked, "These are the only ones that don't."

"You're right," I nodded, "Monokuma probably wants to keep whatever's in there hidden too, like with the staircases."

"What's that bear up to..." Jean-Peal muttered.

"I have no idea," I said, shaking my head, "But, that's everywhere now, right?"

"Yep," Charlotte told us, "I guess we should head back now." We all nodded, and began to make our way back to the Gymnasium.

We met all of our classmates, and we explored as much of the school as we possibly could. All we could do now was report our findings to the others, and finally learn from Monokuma what we had to do to Graduate. I was nervous though, as I had a feeling in the pit of my stomache that the path to Graduation was going to cause more bad than good.

* * *

 **A/N: Whew! Character introductions are finally over. There's only one chapter left until the Prologue is finally over. In the next chapter, the Prologue gets wrapped up, and the official list of Students and their creators will shown. It will probably be shorter than the past couple chapters, but to be safe, I predict it will be up by around Sunday, possibly earlier if I get done fast enough.**


	5. Chapter 5: Prologue Part 4

**A/N: I'm glad to see that the second batch of characters were so well-liked. Even Jane has a fan already, ha! It was cool to already see some theories about the characters as well, even if they were small ones. I love seeing you guys theorizing and thinking about the characters.**

 **One thing I want to note though. Soleil's creator and I talked about his character, and so you might notice that he'll be written slightly differently from now on. I wasn't writing him as fully in-character as I could, but it's been resolved now. If any of the other submitters want to talk to me about how I write your characters, I am always open to suggestions.**

 **I think that's about it for this Author Note. Have fun with the final chapter of the Prologue!**

* * *

Despite the school being quite large, we ended up making it back to the Gymnasium pretty easily. It was helpful that everything was labeled, and that all the paths were pretty much straightforward. Everyone else seemed to fare just as well, as everyone made it back to the Gymnasium at around the same time. Now that we were together, it was time to go over our findings.

"Everyone's here, right?" Spinel asked.

"I'm counting fifteen of us, so yeah, everyone's here," I answered, "So, how should we do this? Just go in a circle, and say what each group found, right?

"I'm fine with whatever." Viktoria shrugged.

"Yeah mate, sounds good ta me," Wilson agreed, "I'll start us off. Jesse and I found a Storage Room. I still don't know whether or not ta believe that we're really trapped here, but if we are, it looks like we'll be set for the rest of the bloody century."

"Y-Yeah," Jesse spoke up shyly, "W-We spent pretty much all of our time in there, just looking around...a-and even then, we barely made a dent...th-there's just so much stuff."

"I guess that's a good thing," Jean-Peal commented, his arms folded in front of him, "But I guess that also means that bear really does intend to keep us stuck here."

"Maybe he's not so bad then," Soleil suggested, "He's providing us with all the necessities, after all."

"I don't know about that," Spinel said, "But he does seem to be keeping us well-stocked. The Infirmary is top-notch as well, from what I've been told. Aiz, if you would. Please elaborate for me."

"...Ok," Aiz replied, "There is medicine and first-aid."

"...Go on," Keahi told her, making a motion with her hands to keep going.

"...That's all." Aiz replied simply.

"What?" Keahi asked, "Come on, that's not elaboratin'! Tell us more about it!"

Aiz blinked, then added, "There are also beds and wheelchairs." Keahi just groaned in response.

"Er, anyway, moving on," Viktoria said, trying to redirect the conversation back on track, "Raeger and I explored the dorms area. All the rooms are locked, but each door has a little pixelized sprite to show who's room is whose."

"O-Oh, that's convenient," Jesse commented, "I'd probably get confused otherwise, with all those doors there..." It was then that I noticed that she was writing in a small notebook.

"What's that for, Jesse?" I asked, pointing out her notebook.

"H-Huh?" She gasped, "O-Oh, um, I'm writing down what everyone's saying..a-as a sort of record."

"That sounds really useful," Charlotte told her, "Great idea there, Jesse." Jesse's blushed at that, and unsubtley hid her face behind her notebook.

"Aww! How adorable!" Viktoria said in delight, "She reminds me of a bashful little puppy." Jesse made a squeaking noise in response, and tried even harder to hide herself from view.

"Tori, you're doing it again..." Raeger mumbled to her.

"Huh? Did you have something you wanted to add to the discussion?" Viktoria asked with a mischievous grin, and when he looked like he was going to try to step out of the conversation, she added, "Nuh uh, I'm not letting you back away from this one. Wasn't there something else at the dorms? Something I forgot to mention?"

"Hold up, are you trying to keep important information away from the group?" Jane asked in surprise, "Come on, that's my job. It won't be fun sabotaging shit if I have to compete with someone."

"Stop talking," Jenny commanded, "Your side antics are taking us off course." She then looked expectantly at Raeger. He sighed, realizing he had no choice but to speak.

"There are eighteen doors in the Dorm Area," Raeger explained reluctantly, "However, there are only fifteen of us here."

"Damn it, even his voice is hot..." Wilson muttered under his breath. Raeger apparently heard him though, as his entire face turned a deep shade of red. Viktoria heard as well, and turned away to hide the fact that she was about to burst into a fit of laughter.

"Wait, seriously?" Spinel asked, not having caught on to that little debacle, "Eighteen doors? That's pretty strange, isn't it?"

"It's possible the three extra rooms are just that: extras." I suggested, just like I had before, "I mean, it's not like the rooms were built for us specifically, just for whoever was going to attend. It was probably just in case we were going to have a bigger class."

"No." Aiz suddenly spoke up.

"H-Huh?" I said, a bit surprised.

"No," she repeated, "Your reasoning would be correct...if us all being in the same class were true."

"What're you on about?" Charlie asked, his eyes narrowed.

"You don't mean..." Charlotte began to say, her eyes wide, "We're not in the same class? But why wouldn't we be?"

"For starters, do we even look like we are all the same age?" Mikhail asked, having kept quiet until now.

"Now that I think about it," Jean-Peal said, a hand on his chin, "Some of us are definitely older, and some are definitely younger."

"Correct," Aiz continued, "Different ages would then imply different grades."

"Ok, I'm gettin' it now," Keahi nodded, "Students within different grades wouldn't be in the same class. Seniors would be with Seniors, Juniors would be with Juniors, and so on. Makes sense ta me."

"Yet we're all here together," Soleil said, "And we all got grouped together at the Dorms despite not being in the same class."

"So then, does that mean there really were supposed to be others here?" Charlotte questioned, "If we're all just a mix-match of students, then where's everyone else?"

"M-Maybe we were chosen..." Jesse spoke up, "M-Maybe Monokuma trapped us, s-specifically...for some reason..."

"That's stupid," Jane deadpanned.

"S...Sorry..." Jesse mumbled, looking down.

"Don't be a dick," Charlie grumbled, "We're all confused as hell right now and are just tryin' to figure this shit out."

"Whatever, Scarface," Jane scoffed as she rolled her eyes.

"Would you mind **not** wasting my time every two minutes?" Jenny asked, staring down Jane, "Stop derailing this discussion. I'm not going to tell you again." The Avian Vet just stuck her tounge out at the Assistant, but didn't say anything else.

"Let's continue theorizing later," I suggested, "For now, let's just finish talking about what areas we explored."

"Well, ya ain't gettin' nothin' out of Jane after that," Keahi said with a sigh, "I'll just say what we found. Though honestly, it wasn't much. Just a simple Laundry Room, is all."

"At least we know we'll have clean clothes then," Wilson commented, "I wasn't really looking forward sitting around in my own filthy linens for the rest of my life."

"Speaking of filth," Jane began to ask, "Wasn't Scarface in the Trash Room, where he belongs? Come on man, you gotta contribute something. Don't be a useless side character."

"Whatever," Charlie said gruffly, "I found a Trash Room, but we can't do anything with it since that prick bear blocked off the incinerator with a gate."

"Incinerator!?" Keahi gasped. A metaphorical fire lit up in her eyes after hearing that.

"Yeah, that's probably why Monokuma blocked it off," Jean-Peal said, shaking his head, "He said something along the lines of wanting to protect the incinerator from the general student public."

"Huh?" Soleil asked, "Monokuma talked to you guys? When?"

"Oh, uh," Charlotte began to explain, "When we were exploring around, we saw Charlie and Monokuma arguing. Charlie asked why it was locked, the bear gave his reasons, and then Charlie asked how anyone was supposed to use the incinerator. Monokuma refused to tell him though, and then disappeared."

"That's strange..." Soleil began to say.

"No kidding." Spinel agreed.

"No, I mean," Soleil continued, "It's strange, because Monokuma talked to Jenny and myself as well."

"Huh?" I gasped.

"It was right before you three appeared," Soleil explained, "Jenny and I were exploring the cafeteria and kitchen, which is so wonderful by the way, I just love how state-of-the-art it is, it's just so-"

"Get on with it!" Charlie exclaimed impatiently.

"Oh, right, my apologies," Soleil said somewhat flustered, bowing slightly to Charlie, "Well, Monokuma showed up, and told us that the kitchen was well-stocked, and that we would never have to worry about there being a shortage of food, as he would bring in fresh produce daily."

"Wow," Viktoria said, slightly in awe, "That bear is really pulling all the stops to make us wanna stay. If I had to rate the school, I'd give it four out of five monochrome stars. It loses out on a star for being creepy as hell."

"As much as this place makes me wary," Raeger said, "It doesn't seem to be nearly as inhospitable as I'd assumed."

"I-I don't think we should feel too c-comfortable," Jesse warned, "Th-There's still a lot we don't understand about this place..."

"That's a fair point," Keahi agreed, "By the way, were there any other areas to explore? Or is that all?"

Everyone looked at Mikhail, who had barely spoken through all of this. He sighed, realizing he had no choice to offer his contribution from exploring.

"I went to check the classrooms," he said slowly, "However...they are gone."

"What!?" Viktoria exclaimed, "What do you mean gone?"

"I mean exactly as I say," he replied dismissfully, "They are simply gone. The hallway containing the classrooms are blocked off by a wall. It makes no logical sense, but it has indeed happened."

"What the hell?" Jane said, surprising everyone by being legitimately shocked by this information, "How's that even possible?" She paused. "I wish I knew how to do that. I'd block off the Cafeteria so all you fatties would starve to death."

Everybody groaned at her response.

"Was...Was that all then?" Jenny asked. Even she seemed taken by surprise, though she was doing her best to not show it.

"There was one last area," I answered, "A hallway off to the side in the Student Zone. There was a stair case that went both up and down about halfway down the hallway. It was indented into the wall, though it was blocked off by a gate."

"It sounds like there might be more to this school than we thought," Spinel said, "It's pretty unfortunate that we don't have access to more of the school, but I suppose there's not much we can do about it. Was there anything else?"

"Yeah," Jean-Peal nodded, "At the end of the hallway, there were these big double doors that were covered in red velvet. It was locked though."

"That's...pretty strange." Charlie muttered, "The hell is with all these locked doors and blocked off shit?"

"If you want to know, then just ask nicely." Monokuma replied.

"Ok, please tell us?" Wilson asked.

"..."

"OH SHIT!" Wilson suddenly screamed. Monokuma had suddenly appeared in front of us, as if from out of nowhere. We barely even noticed until Wilson began screaming.

"Where the hell did you come from!?" Charlie demanded.

"Where did I come from?" Monokuma repeated, putting a paw to his chin, "Oh, well, you see, when a mommy bear and a daddy bear love each other very much, they-"

"That's not what I meant you asshole!" Charlie yelled at him.

"Stop yelling." Jenny commanded, before turning to Monokuma and asking, "Are you here to give us information?"

"Of course!" Monokuma answered gleefully, "First off, the stair case will be blocked off until we reach the Second Act."

"What." Jane said blankly.

"Don't interrupt me, you naughty child," Monokuma told her, shaking his finger at her, "Anyway, the next piece of information is about the Trash Room. You see, there is only one key for the gate in there, and only the Trash Monitor of the week shall be blessed by its grace. Only they will keep it in their possession. So, who wants to be this week's Trash Monitor?"

"This is ridiculous..." Mikhail muttered.

"Ooh, do we have a volunteer?" Monokuma asked him.

"No." Was Mikhail's firm response.

"I'll do it," I volunteered, "I don't really think anyone else wants the job anyway."

"Any objections?" Monokuma asked everyone, "Good! Here's the key!" He then pulled a key from out of thin air, and tossed it at me. I caught it easily enough, and pocketed it.

"Are you going to tell us what Graduation is now?" Charlotte asked.

"You're quite the smart cookie," Monokuma answered, "Yes, that is the final piece of information for today. But first..."

"Oh _come_ on," Keahi groaned, "Quit toyin' with us and just tell us what it is already!"

"My, my, such rude, impatient children," Monokuma whined, "I was just going to give you...these!" He jumped up into the air, seemingly levitating, and began throwing cards (that he once again seemed to make appear from out of nowhere) at everyone as if they were ninja stars. Despite being indoors, a wind began to whip up and lash at everyone as well.

"Hya hya hya hya hya hya hya! Rain Dragon Uryuu Ishida, I call upon thee to shower these bastards with my despair-filled gifts!" Monokuma called out. "Strike them all with a rainy death of arrows! I mean cards!"

"That reference barely even works!" Spinel exclaimed, standing his ground against the barrage.

"How the bloody hell do ya keep pulling shit from out of nowhere!?" Wilson exclaimed at Monokuma in fear as he protectively covered his head with his arms, "Do ya have some kind of goddamn hammer space in your pockets!?"

"It's a robot bear! It doesn't have pockets!" Keahi shouted, her multi-colored hair flapping in every direction.

Everything calmed down after a bit. Monokuma floated back down to the ground, and the winds disappeared and went back to normal.

"What...the hell...was that?" I gasped.

"It was just a fun way to give you your Student IDs!" Monokuma said happily, "Every student at Sky's Peak Academy gets one. It has your personal information, such as your name and Talent, as well as a Map of the school, and the Rules that everyone will live by while living in this school."

My eyes opened wide at that. Name and talent? I immediately began to look for my card among the many on the floor (for some strange reason, even though Monokuma had seemed to throw hundreds at us, there were only fifteen on the floor), but I realized that I actually had no idea what I even looked like. The best I could do was look for a card with an unfamiliar face on it.

"...There!" I exclaimed out loud once I found the winning card. I shakily picked it up, and looked at the picture shown.

"My name...is David Jameson..."

The person I saw had an average height at 5'8, with a skinny build and pale skin. He had medium-length messy brown hair, and green eyes. He wore a plain white polo shirt, blue jeans, and white sneakers.

Overall, he looked like the epitome of average, a generic blank slate.

I...I was just a blank slate.

"...There's no talent listed here!" I suddenly said in realization. I turned angrily to look at Mokokuma, and yelled, "What did you do to me? Why can't I remember anything? Why are you keeping it all away from me!?"

"Hmm..." Monokuma simply hummed in response, "I wonder why I'm doing that as well. Who knows, maybe it's just a mystery you'll have to solve. Upupupu!"

"Why don't we just beat the truth out of him?" Charlie suggested, "I don't care what weird powers he has. He's been jerkin' me around long enough, and I won't stand for him bullyin' ya like that either!"

"Y-Yeah! He can't stop us if we all go after him at once!" Charlotte agreed, stepping up beside me, "We won't let him just do whatever he wants!"

"Yeah man, we've got your back!" Jean-Peal said, stepping up beside me as well.

"...How disgusting." Monokuma sneered, "You all sound like the cast of a shonen anime. Next I bet you'll all start to say you'll use the power of friendship to defeat me."

"It does sound rather ridiculous," Mikhail said bluntly.

"FYI, you all might want to check the Rules section of your Student IDs." Monobear added, "You know, before you all do something you regret."

Those words didn't sit well with me, so I begrudgingly looked at my ID. Now that I was paying closer attention to it, I could see how high-tech it was. It seemed pretty similar to a smart phone with a touch screen, but with more flashy effects to it to make it seems more futuristic. The main screen had the options for my personal info, a map, and the rules, along with two blanked out options that I apparently couldn't access yet. I tapped on the Rules, and began to read them.

 **1\. The students will live a communal lifestyle with no time limit inside the school walls.**

 **2\. The time between 10pm and 7am is called "Night Time". During Night Time there are places that are forbidden to enter, so please take care.**

 **3\. Sleeping is only permitted in the personal rooms prepared for you in the dormitory area. Anyone intentionally falling asleep elsewhere will be punished.**

 **4\. You may investigate the school as you please. There are no special restrictions on your actions.**

 **5\. No violence is permitted against the school's Headmaster, Monobear. Breaking this rule will result in punishment.**

 **6\. Destruction of the surveillance cameras and school property is forbidden. Punishment will follow if this rule is not heeded.**

 **7\. A "culprit" who kills a fellow student will Graduate from Sky's Peak Academy. However, they must not let any other student know they are the culprit.**

 **8\. Additional rules may be added by the Headmaster at any time.**

"...What!?" I exclaimed.

"Oi, am I getting this right?" Wilson asked nervously.

"Is this some kinda sick joke or somethin'!?" Keahi yelled, an anxious tone apparent in her voice.

"R-Rule 7..." Jesse whimpered, "I-It..."

"N-No way, no freaking way!" Jean-Peal stammered, "You can't be serious!"

"I...I won't let you scare us like this!" Viktoria spoke up, attempting to muster up a show of bravado, "L-Let's just get him now, guys! Let's beat the stuffing out of him, while we still have an open shot!"

"Right behind ya!" Charlie exclaimed, fists clenched in anger.

"Tori, wait!" Raeger warned her, holding her back by her shoulder, "Rule 5, remember?"

"Wh-Which was that, the one about sleeping?" Viktoria asked, too flustered to think straight at the moment.

"No, you dumb ass hoe," Jane told her, "It's the one about not attacking the bear or you get punished."

"What does 'punishment' even mean?" Soleil asked nervously.

"Why don't you test it out!" Jane spat at him.

"Obviously it's something bad," Jenny said, trying to keep her cool, "I suggest that no one test out that theory any time soon."

"K-Killing, though..." Charlotte stuttered, "Monokuma wants us to kill! Why!?"

"Despair." Aiz answered simply, "He wants us to despair."

"Why though!?" Wilson practically screamed, looking like a nervous wreck as he spoke, "The little robot bear wants us to start killing people! What the hell is up with that?"

"Now that's the question, isn't it..." Spinel muttered. "Why. Well, Monokuma?"

"Hmm...How should I answer this..." Monokuma said thoughtfully, turning his back to us for a moment, "Why do I want to do this...Ah! I know!" He faced us once again. "I'm bored."

"...What?" I repeated.

"That is quite a disappointing motive," Mikhail said, shaking his head.

"Whaddaya mean youer bored?" Keahi asked, "What, is murder entertainment for ya or somethin'?"

"Yes, actually." Monokuma said, somehow grinning even wider, "I'm despairingly bored with nothing to do...so get to murdering! Chop chop!"

"You can't be serious..." Jean-Peal muttered, "You seriously expect us to kill each other, just so we get to leave this school?"

"Hmm...I suppose not. At least, not without further motives." Monokuma answered, "I picked a sturdier bunch of students this time, actually. It's always more fun to see you bastards struggle more against your natural instinct to kill. It makes things so much more interesting."

"Are you saying you've done this before?" I asked.

"Of course!" Monokuma exclaimed joyfully, "It's my favorite past time really. Watching kids murder each other, no matter the reward, is always so despairingly satisfying. And that's what I'm truly after. Despair. Upupupu! I just love saying the word! Despair, despair, despair..."

"Shut the hell up already!" Charlie yelled at him. "No one's gonna give in to your weird fetish!"

"I might," Jane interjected, "Just to piss you guys off."

"Oh my God shut _up_ already!" Keahi yelled at her, obviously frustrated.

"P-Please, stop fighting..." Jesse mumbled, shaking nervously as she spoke, "N-No one...no one's going to k-kill anyone...j-just stop this..."

"You're all mighty sure of yourselves," Monokuma said mockingly, "None of you believe you'll eventually resort to murder, just to leave this school. You're all wrong, of course. But, how I up the ante a bit then? Make things even more interesting?"

"What did you have in mind?" Aiz asked quietly.

"I'll tell you all a secret!" Monokuma answered, "You see, I inserted a player into this game that I personally handpicked. Their purpose is to make this game keep up its momentum whenever things get dull. I'll be giving them some direction from time to time, but for the most part they'll be playing their part well enough on their own. Think of them as a Mole of sorts. With them in play, murder is pretty much guaranteed...unless you manage to oust them, of course."

"You're obviously only saying that to cause paranoia," Spinel sighed, "Like, that was almost too easy to see through."

"Ah, but you've forgotten one thing," Monokuma laughed, "I don't lie. It's actually against my programming to lie. It's to help make the game fair."

"Game..." Charlotte said, "Why do you keep using the word 'game'?"

"Because that's what this is!" Monokuma replied, "This little game is what I like to call, The School Life of Mutual Killing! And you're all invited to play. The only question left is, which one of you will break first? Who will be the first to kill? Who will be the first to die? Upupupu!"

"That's three questions actually," Jane said snarkily.

"Grrr! You get what I mean!" Monokuma growled, "This game begins now!" He began to spin at a rapid pace, almost like a ballerina, before suddenly drilling into the ground and disappearing. Of course, the floor was apparently completely undamaged from it. Nobody knew how Monokuma kept doing that, but one thing was certain.

As we all stood there, silently looking at each other, we all were thinking the same thing.

Would one of us...really, truly kill?

* * *

 **PROLOGUE: END**

 **A/N: And so ends the Prologue! I'm liking these Sunday updates (even though this one came a few hours late, whoops), so I'm likely going to stick to that kind of schedule. Expect to (hopefully) see the next update, the beginning of Act 1, next Sunday!**

 **Also, you all may have noticed that I put a poll on my profile. You can use it to vote for who the first six Free Time Events will be with. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th place in the votes will get Free Time Events during Act 1. In the case of a tie, I will break the tie using RandomGenerator.**

 **One last thing. Here is the full list of Accepted Characters!**

Aiz Espensen: Ultimate Pharmacist created by Vivid Nemesis

Charlie McCrimmon: Ultimate Billiards Pro created by dashunterman

Charlotte Lin: Ultimate Inventor created by QueenofMatoki

Jane Smith: Ultimate Avian Vet created by TrouserQueen

Jean-Peal Moreau: Ultimate Sketch Artist created by SSBFreak

Jenny Deerly: Ultimate Assistant created by Alicitizen

Jesse Hutchins: Ultimate Sidekick created by Colossal Fighter GX

"Spinel Labelle": Ultimate Hypnotist created by RagingWitch

Keahi McGovern: Ultimate Pyrotechnics Expert created by EnigmaxBell/50Zoned

Mikhail Shistakov: Ultimate Chess Player created by Awenia

Raeger Cruz: Ultimate Manager, and Viktoria Dragomir: Ultimate Comedian created by Prince Eric's Ariel

Soleil Tindol: Ultimate Chocolatier created by The Pocketwatch Ripper

Wilson Young: Ultimate Engineer created by A Dingus With Sweet Shades


	6. Chapter 6: Act 1 Part 1

**A/N: Wow, I'm just so blown back by all the positive responses to the last chapter. Honestly everyone, I couldn't help but smile when reading your reviews. I was also quite surprised by a few things. For one, I'm very pleasantly surprised by the reactions to Jane. I was expecting her to be absolutely hated, but she's been so well-received, it's really kind of amazing. I do love writing her, so maybe that's showing through as well. I'm really glad to see Jenny and Wilson fans as well; as a writer, I probably shouldn't be picking favorites, but I adore them as characters, so it's nice to see some love for them from you guys as well.**

 **Speaking of character love, I can see from the poll that there's a few characters who are clear audience favorites. A few of the results so far aren't so surprising, but there are a couple there who did receive a surprising amount of votes, but of course undoubtedly deserve them. Overall though, the votes have been pretty spread out, even among the popular characters, as at the time of writing this, there is a four-way tie for 1st place. By the way, the poll is going to be up for one more week, so there's still time for your favorites to get enough votes to get a Free Time Event for this Act.**

 **There was also a comment about character relationships beyond the "main characters" (reviewer's words, not mine; I'm not confirming anything about who the "main characters" will be), and I just wanted to say that there indeed will be many of those. I love interpersonal relationships in stories, and especially in a story like this where relationships are often one of the driving forces for the plot. There will be platonic and romantic relationships, so there's no worries there.**

 **And finally, let's talk about theories. There were a few nice ones out there that are very interesting, and while I won't be confirming anything here, I can say that at least one of you might be on to something, heh heh. I especially like everyone's theories about the Mole, they're very different takes from the norm on who it could be. Also, one of you managed to catch a bit of foreshadowing about a certain character. And like all foreshadowing, it will definitely come into play in the future. Nice job catching that little hint!**

 **And so with that, that concludes this Author Note. Act 1 begins now!**

* * *

 **Act 1: Et tu, Hope?**

"...So, how long are we gonna just keep standing here?" Viktoria asked.

We hadn't moved for what seemed like hours, once Monobear had left us to stew in the aftermath of our meeting. Honestly, it may had only been several minutes at most, but it certainly seemed longer. The heavy tension in the air virtually prevented anyone from moving a muscle, as if it was quite literally weighing us down.

"I dunno," Wilson said quietly in response to the Comedian, "The group paralysis here feels a little comforting ta me, in a way."

"Can I get a chair at least then?" Viktoria asked further, hunching over slightly.

"Why? Got a bad back?" Keahi asked, "I know a couple of chiropractic moves that I learned from a magazine. I could set ya right in a second."

"No thanks." Viktoria answered, perhaps a little too quickly for Keahi's liking if her facial expression was anything to go by. "My back's fine, I'm just too much of a lazy bum to keep standing around like this."

"Ha. Self-deprecative humor. Classic." Wilson said with a small chuckle.

"I can't believe this..." Jenny muttered.

"I can," Jane chimed in, "They're wasting time by trying to cope with humor."

"No, they are wasting time by-" Jenny began to say, before stopping and instead saying, "...Yes. That's correct." She narrowed her eyes at the Avian Vet. "You said something accurate and productive."

"That was just to throw you off," Jane shrugged, "Everytime you falter or your cold and analytical persona cracks, I get a miniature orgasm."

"That's fucking disgustin'," Charlie told her, shaking his head.

"H-Hey guys," Jesse cut into the conversation, if you could even call it a conversation any more, "C-Can we maybe focus on the issue at hand...please?" She looked up to Jenny expectantly after that, as if seeking approval. Unfortunately, Jenny was too busy giving Jane a venomous glare to even notice poor Jesse.

Huh. I just now realized that there's a lot of girls here who's name starts with the letter J. Maybe it was another trend, like how at least half of the students here were tall and scrawny. Of course, those were all likely just coincidences. But still, what were even the chances of that?

"The issue at hand?" Mikhail repeated, breaking me out of my train of thought, "What issue? What is there to discuss?"

"Uh...Rule 7, maybe?" Jean-Peal answered, his response obviously rhetorical.

"Not just that, but also the thing about there being a Mole," Charlotte nodded in agreement.

"Yeah seriously, wasn't that obvious?" Spinel asked.

"But what about it?" Mikhail questioned, a disdainful look on his face, "Do you honestly believe that we should even tolerate a discussion about murder?"

"But, it's a much better option than to just ignore it," Soleil told him, "We all need to be on the same page here."

"I'd hate to be reasonable two times in a row," Jane sighed disappointedly, "But I seriously doubt anyone here actually wants to kill anyone. I can tell you're all too goody-two-shoes for that."

"I hate to admit it, but she's right," Keahi said, "We all know that murder's wrong. And it's not like anyone would admit that they wanna leave so badly that they'd resort to murderin' people. So there's no real point to talkin' 'bout it."

"Let me get this straight," Jenny responded, "The general consensus right now, is that we should _not_ talk about what just happened. We should _not_ discuss that there may already be students in our midst who are planning to murder in order to escape this school. We should _not_ even be wary about there possibly being a saboteur. And ultimately, we should _not_ come together to formulate a plan to not only prevent murders, but to also find alternative ways of escape that do not require bloodshed." She folded her arms, as she gave everyone a surveying glare. "Is that what everyone truly believes is the best course of action here?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment. Honestly, I was more surprised by how much she spoke. I doubt we'll ever hear that much at once from her again.

"Well, when you put it like that..." Wilson mumbled.

"Obviously, we do need to talk about it," I agreed, "But what exactly did you have in mind?"

"Nothing." Jenny answered simply, "I only wish to facilitate a progressive discussion, and to give those with positive ideas a platform in which to share them."

"So in other words, you're useless," Jane remarked.

"That's ironic, coming from the bird bitch," Viktoria scoffed. Damn, she was usually a nice person, but she also had no problem with whipping out the claws if she wanted to.

"Ooh, nice one," Jane grinned, raising her hand up to high-five Viktoria.

"You do know she just insulted you, right?" Spinel asked.

"Yeah, but I can respect a good burn when I hear one," Jane shrugged. When Jane unrelentingly kept up her hand in waiting, Viktoria eventually just awkwardly tapped her hand with her palm. Jane then told her, "I licked my hand when you weren't looking."

"Eugh!" Viktoria groaned in disgust, as she wiped her palm against the side of her jeans. Raeger instantly was at her side, a bottle of anti-bacterial gel in his hand.

"Where did he even get that?" Jean-Peal asked in slight awe.

Raeger gave him a look.

"...I always keep a care package for Viktoria on my person," He replied, before then putting his attention back on her.

"Will the side antics ever end?" I asked, side-eyeing the duo. Viktoria was arguing that she could disinfect herself without his help, while Raeger was mumbling that she never did it right and that he was willing to just do it for her.

"Doubt it," Charlie grunted in response.

With what could be considered either really great or really awful timing, the monitors on the walls all suddenly turned on and began to play a message. The display showed Monokuma sitting in a large swivel chair in some office-looking room, holding what looked like a martini.

"Eh, this is your Headmaster speaking. It is now 10pm, and night time is now in effect. The water will soon be shut off, and some areas will be restricted. Good night, my students!"

"Wh-What?" Jesse stammered, "B-But it can't have been more than a couple hours since we woke up..."

"...Monokuma wanted to wait until it was late into the day before he woke us up," Aiz slowly said, "He wanted us to go to bed, with the thoughts of murder and traitors on our minds."

"Hmph. That's really sneaky of him," Soleil pouted as he crossed his arms.

"And smart," Spinel added, "Don't forget about that. Paranoia and doubt are rather...powerful, tools." The way he said that, made me think he knew that from personal experience.

"Wait, how are we supposed ta even get to ouer rooms?" Keahi asked, "Aren't the doors locked? The Rules say we have ta sleep in ouer rooms, or we get punished. I guess I could just blow mine open, if I have ta."

"How do you remember the rule about sleeping, but not the one about destruction of school property being prohibited?" Mikhail asked, a grimace on his face, "You are just asking to be punished."

"She does have a point though," Charlotte commented, "There's no way to get into the Dorms."

"Hmm...Maybe there is..." Jean-Peal hummed, "I think I remember the doors having what looked like card readers on them."

"How do you know that what you saw are card readers?" I asked.

"Well, I don't really know that for sure," he replied, "But once we got our Student IDs, I was able to make the connection."

"I guess we just slide our ID through the reader then," Soleil said, "So, I guess we'll just have to continue this meeting tomorrow then."

"Yes, you were all too busy wasting time with your shenanigans to actually discuss the matter at hand," Jenny told us coldly.

"C-Couldn't we just...continue our meeting now?" Jesse asked hesitantly, "Th-The Rules only say we have to sleep in our rooms...a-and that certain areas are restricted during Night Time...I don't think we, uh, actually have to go to bed..."

"We all did just wake up," Wilson noted, "So we should be awake enough to talk...though, I have to admit, I'm a wee bit tired, so I'd be ok with just continuing tomorrow."

"Me too, actually..." Charlie mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"How?" Viktoria asked with a yawn, "I mean, I'm usually pretty tired so I thought it was just me, but how're you guys tired? We must've been passed out for half the day, at least."

"Just another mystery for us to stew over, I suppose," Spinel remarked, "For the record though, I'm not tired at all." He immediately let out a loud, drawn-out yawn.

"Dude, you just yawned," Viktoria told him, cocking an eye brow, "You look dead tired to me."

"I didn't yawn," Spinel replied blankly, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"What!?" Keahi exclaimed, "Yes ya did! We all heard and saw ya!"

"Nope. Didn't yawn." He said. He then yawned again. "Still didn't yawn."

I could sense another set of shenanigans brewing, so I decided to just bade everyone good night and leave before the antics could start. Some of the other students followed my lead, and left soon after as well.

"David! Wait up!" A voice called to me. I stopped to let them catch up, and once they did I continued to walk, with them at my side.

"You decided not to stick around for another round of shenanigans, huh, JP?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's not really my thing," he nodded, "I consider myself a pretty social guy, but some of the students are kind of draining to talk to."

"I know what you mean," I replied, "They're all nice enough, with one obvious exception, but they've definitely got their quirks. You're pretty normal though, probably the most normal guy here."

"Yeah, I...I guess I am." Jean-Peal said hesitantly. I was about to make a comment about that, when Charlotte then caught up to us as well.

"You guys talking about me behind my back?" Charlotte asked with a frown.

"Wh-What? No, I wouldn't-" Jean-Peal began to protest, but was cut off by the Inventor.

"I'm just messing with you again!" Charlotte told him with a mischievous grin, "You shouldn't take me so seriously all the time."

"Right..." Jean-Peal mumbled.

"I have no clue how you two ended up being friends," I told them, "Your personalities don't match at all."

"Well, we both were worried about you when we first found you," Charlotte said, a thoughtful look on her face, "I guess neither of us really want to leave your side, so we're kind of stuck together."

"You don't have to say that like it's a bad thing..." Jean-Peal sighed.

"Well, you're pretty obviously anxious around me," Charlotte said knowingly, "I would like to be your friend though...are you ok with that?"

"...Yeah, sure," Jean-Peal answered after a moment of hesitation, "I...I'd like to be your friend."

"Good, then it's settled," Charlotte smiled, "We're all friends, and we're all a team."

"I'm glad, because right now, we could all use a friend or two," I told them, "I trust you two, I don't believe either of you will ever murder. We all can watch each other's backs, and protect each other."

"Sounds good to me," Jean-Peal replied, looking more at ease.

"I did tell you I had your back," Charlotte nodded, "And I meant it. I'll do whatever I can to keep us safe. I promise."

By this time, we had made it to the Dorms. We said our goodnights to each other, and then went our separate ways to our rooms. Once I found my door, I slid my ID through the card reader. The door unlocked, and so I opened it and stepped into my room for the first time.

The room was painfully generic. There was nothing inside to suggest that any person with even a semblance of a personality owned the room. It had all the necessities: a bed, a night stand, a dresser with a vanity mirror, a closet, and even a personal bathroom and shower. But it was just so _boring_...were the other students' rooms like this as well? I doubted it. I also noticed that there was a camera and a monitor in here as well. Well damn, I guess I wouldn't be allowed privacy even in my own room.

Well anyway. I had nothing to do but try to get some sleep, though I doubted I would actually get any rest. I laid down in the bed, and stared up at the ceiling. My thoughts turned to everything that had just happened, as I tried to process it all.

This...was my life now. I had no memories, no identity besides a name, and was trapped in a school by a psychopathic teddy bear who wanted me and fourteen other students to murder each other. It was all just so insane. Why was I even here? Why had I been picked to participate in this Killing Game? I just...I felt like there was darkness all around me, crushing me. There was no light, no answers. I only existed to experience pain...and despair.

 **...**

 **Monokuma Theater**

 _"You know, I'm a lot less self-aware than I'm usually given credit for."_

 _"A disgustingly-cute teddy bear mascot? So cliche, am I right?"_

 _"But some of you might think that my Earthly form is just a ruse to lower my victims' guards."_

 _"Or that my fluffy design is all based in irony and symbolism."_

 _"Some might even think that my looks are actually a political statement about society."_

 _"But really, there is no point to my appearance. I just thought I looked Cool and Original (DO NOT STEAL™)._

 _"Really, that's all there is to me. Nothing special here."_

 **...**

"Good morning, my students! It's 7am, time to rise and shine. Let's all strive to do our best today!"

I woke up with a start. I hadn't even realized I'd fallen asleep last night, the last thing I remembered was mulling over yesterday's events in my head. I sat up, stretching and yawning, before giving a look at the monitor on the wall. So Monokuma was going to act as a sort of alarm clock for us, huh? I had a feeling that would get annoying rather quickly.

I figured I should probably get up and go with the others soon. We had agreed that we wanted to continue the meeting in the morning, but now that I thought about it, I don't think we ever actually set up a meeting place. The Cafeteria seemed like a safe enough bet, since everyone would no doubtedly be hungry and go in for breakfast.

First, however, I needed to take a shower. There was no way I was going to meet with the others looking and smelling like a slob. After stretching a bit more, I went into the bathroom and hopped into the shower. The shower was nice enough, there wasn't really much to say about it. I came out five minutes later, a towel wrapped around my waist as I dug through the dresser for a set of clothes. However, looking through it, all I could find were extra sets of the exact same clothing I'd been wearing yesterday.

"What the hell..." I muttered out loud.

"They're called clothes, David-kun. Maybe you've heard of them." Said a familiar, annoying voice. I turned around, and saw Monokuma standing in my room.

"I know they're clothes," I grumbled at him, "Why are they all just the same outfit?"

"I wanted all my students to have just one signature outfit," Monokuma explained, "It makes it much easier to tell who is who. Of course, that lousy Inventor had to have a similar outfit to the slob Comedian's, so I gave them a little lee-way with alternate costumes. Too bad you have to unlock New Game+ just to see them!"

"That's stupid." I told him bluntly. I guess I'm not really much of a morning person.

"Uwah! Your words cut me deeper than a doctor performing a botched amputation!" Monokuma cried out, "By the way, don't you think you should put some clothes on? Don't you know it's lewd to be _bear_ naked in front of someone as innocent and sexually pure as me?"

"I'm...wearing a towel." I responded blankly. Honestly, I should have felt embarrassed by this situation, but I just...didn't.

"Huh. I guess I must have wiped away your inhibitions along with your memories..." Monokuma mumbled to himself, "Oh! Did I say that out loud? Oopsie!"

I just stared blankly at him.

"...Wow. You're a lot less fun to mess with than I'd planned." Monokuma sighed in disappointment. "Oh well, at least I've got fourteen other of you bastards to emotionally break." With that, he disappeared.

Huh. I think my morning apathy might've accidentally found me a way to avoid future encounters with the bear. Awesome.

Not too long after that, I was dressed and ready to go. I opened my door and stepped outside my room, and saw that Jesse was standing around in the hallway.

"Good morning, Jesse," I greeted her.

"Eep!" Jesse squeaked, "O-Oh, uh, hi, David...S-Sorry..."

"What are you sorry for?" I asked, "I'm the one who scared you."

"I'm...sorry for getting scared..." She mumbled, looking down at her feet.

"Oh, uh, ok," I replied awkwardly, "Um, are you waiting for someone?"

"O-Oh, yeah, I am," she nodded, "Spinel is blind...s-so I thought that I should help him get around."

"That's really nice of you, Jesse," I told her, "I'm sure he'll be grateful for that."

"Y-Yeah..." she mumbled once more, her cheeks flushed slightly red, "O-Oh, you don't have to stay with me, by the way. Go ahead to breakfast...we'll catch up later..."

"Are you sure?" I asked. She nodded, so I continued, "Alright, I'll see you later at breakfast then." I waved goodbye, and then made my way to the Cafeteria. When I entered, I could see that only a few of the students were there: Viktoria, Raeger, Charlie, and Jenny. I was surprised, seeing as I thought I might've actually been late. I was apparently pretty early, but then again, maybe I should've expected that. Teenagers are notorious for sleeping in, after all.

"Good morning, Mister Jameson," Jenny told me, "You're rather surprisingly prompt."

"I'm just as surprised as you are, to be honest," I replied. I moved to sit down while we waited, and decided to sit with Viktoria and Raeger.

"G'morning," Viktoria told me with an overdramatic yawn. She was laying her head down in her arms at the table she was sitting at, with Raeger at her side.

"You look exhausted," I told her, "I didn't really expect to see you here before me."

"Jeez, you can be really blunt sometimes," Viktoria groaned, "But it's not like you're wrong. I usually sleep in late, but _somebody_ decided that I needed to get up early today." I immediately looked at Raeger.

"I only did that because I believed it was the best course of action," he said with a frown, "We cannot afford to waste time sleeping in. If we are going to be a part of the solution, then we must do everything in our power to achieve our goal."

"Dude, what are you even saying?" Viktoria mumbled into the table, "It's too early for your mumbo-jumbo way of talking."

"I...I'm saying that we all agreed to find a way out of the school, so we should do our best," Raeger explained.

"Oh. Well how am I supposed to do anything if I'm dead tired?" Viktoria countered.

"You're _always_ tired, Tori," Raeger countered back, "It would do you some good to be a little more active, you know. An inactive body will actually tire much more quickly than an active one."

"That's just a fancy way of saying you disapprove of my lazy lifestyle," Viktoria said with another loud yawn. The two of them began to bicker back and forth, so I turned to look at Charlie after that.

"Good morning, Charlie," I told him, "How's your morning gone?"

"Eh?" He said, "It's ok, I guess. Why do ya care?"

"I'm just asking," I replied, "There isn't any particular reason."

"Hmm..." He grunted in response. I guess he wasn't much of a morning person either. Well, either that, or he wasn't much for talking. Possibly both.

The rest of the students began to enter the Cafeteria after that, and it became time to continue our meeting. Or at least, I thought so. When the meeting began to start, I realized only thirteen of us were actually there.

"Looks like everyone's here," Jean-Peal noted.

"No, we're still missing Aiz and Soleil," Charlotte said, having also noticed the two missing students.

"Y-You don't think they couldn've already..." Jesse stuttered, unable to finish her sentence. We all knew what she was implying though.

"Nonsense, they were the first to arrive," Jenny explained, "They're in the kitchen."

"Huh? Why?" I asked, "I didn't even see them when I got here, and I was early."

"Oh, right, we forgot to tell you," Viktoria began to answer, "Ok so, apparently we have to cook our own meals. I mean, I guess that should've been obvious in hindsight, since there's no staff here, but we didn't realize that until this morning."

"Soleil I understand, he has a background in cooking, it's his talent," Wilson said, "But why is Little Miss Silent and Unassuming back there?"

"I believe Aiz has quite a bit of skill in the kitchen," Spinel commented, "I haven't gotten much out of her yet, but from the few conversations we've had, I've learned that she can spice up a dish like it's nobody's business."

"I can't be the only one here who thinks they'll poison our food, right?" Jane asked. Everyone fell silent for a moment.

"No way," Keahi said in disbelief, "They'd never do somethin' like that! They're too nice!"

"That is a naive outlook," Mikhail told her, shaking his head, "With that kind of attitude, you may very well become the first target."

"Well ok then," Keahi shrugged, "I'd rather die trustin' people than live as an anti-social loner."

"Whoa, ok now guys, let's calm down a bit," Viktoria told the two of them, as Mikhail's glare hardened, "You're killing my chill vibe here."

"We're also getting off-track. Again." Jenny stated, an edge to her voice.

"Y-Yeah, we should probably get back on topic," Wilson stuttered nervously, "Er, what exactly was it, again?"

"It was about the possibility of the chefs will poisoning our food." Spinel answered, "Those two don't seem like the killing type, but I suppose you can't really know what a person is truly capable of until you've seen them reach their limits. And we've hardly seen anything of them at all."

"I...do not believe they are capable of killing as well," Raeger spoke up. It was surprising to see him speak without being prompted by Viktoria for once. "But even then, I also do not believe that a mass poisoning would go over well with Monokuma."

"And why's that?" Charlie asked, "He wants us dead, right?"

"U-Uh, actually," Jesse said hesitantly, as she flipped through the pages of her notebook, "M-Monokuma wants us to murder each other...I-I think that his choice of words is important there..."

"Does it matter?" Keahi asked, "I mean, either way, death is still kind of the result here."

"Think of it this way," Spinel began to explain, "Death on its own is normal and expected. It'll eventually happen to everyone some day. Murder...now that has a tone of excitement to it, doesn't it? And didn't you notice how excited Monokuma got over the idea of us murdering each other?"

"And don't forget the fact that he called this all a game," Charlotte added, "If everyone died from poisoning, his 'game' would end too early."

"Oi, wait a sec here," Wilson asked, eyes wide, "You can't be seriously implying that the only that reason we're alive, is because it'd be sodding _boring_ to that damn bear to just off us all at once!"

"Yeah...it kinda seems to be the case," Jean-Peal told him solemnly, "And because of that, we can guess that he wouldn't be ok with everyone just being poisoned to death. It's just too easy."

"You got any proof for that?" Charlie asked.

After he said that, I felt something vibrate in my pocket. I dug my hand in it, and could feel that it was my Student ID. Confused, I pulled it out and checked it, and saw that the Rules section was blinking. Tapping the option revealed that a new rule had been added. I took the liberty of reading it out loud to the others.

 **8\. A culprit may not kill any more than two students in their attempt to Graduate.**

"Well I guess that answers your question," I told Charlie.

"H-How did he even hear us?" Jesse asked.

"The cameras Monokuma has all over the goddamn place probably have microphones in them," Wilson suggested, "I've repaired cameras like that before, so I've got an idea of how they work. But the ones Monokuma has...they've got to be some pretty high-grade shit to be able to hear what we say so bloody clearly."

"Ugh. I guess we really don't have any privacy," Viktoria groaned.

"Good morning everyone! Breakfast is served!" Soleil declared, having just now exited the kitchen with Aiz as he pushed along a cart with food. He must've felt the heavy atmosphere, as he then said anxiously, "Uh, is everything ok?"

"About as ok as things can be," Charlie told him, "All things considered."

"Our IDs informed us that a new rule was added," Aiz said, "What caused the addition?"

"They thought you guys were gonna poison our food," Jane immediately answered.

"Are ya serious!?" Keahi exclaimed at her, "Youer the one who said that in the first place!"

"I-I'd never do such a thing!" Soleil gasped, hands clasped together in earnest, "W-Why would you say that!?"

"'Cuz she's a sneaky lyin' rat, that's why!" Keahi yelled angrily, "I'm gettin' real tired of her crap!"

"Hey! You're ruining my vibe again!" Viktoria told them, "Seriously, just calm down, we can't keep fighting like this."

"She's the one that started it!" Keahi said.

"You've been involved in both arguments this morning so for," Jenny told her coldly, " **You** are the common denominator. You will refrain from continuing all arguments at once."

" **You** don't control me!" Keahi countered, "Who the heck do ya think ya are!?"

The two of them had a glaring contest after that. Sensing the heavy tension, Soleil, began to hand out the plates of food, saying, "Forgive me if the food isn't to your liking. Aiz and I did our best, but our true skills don't lie in cooking meals, I'm afraid. As much as I would love to just serve chocolate for every meal instead, I know that even my superb chocolatiering wouldn't be enough to prevent you all from tiring of its taste. You can only eat so much of something before you begin to hate it, after all. Fortunately, I am not quite there yet when it comes to chocolate, and I don't wish to advance any of you further in that direction either. You know, I have-"

"Soleil." Aiz said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Relax."

"R-Right, sorry," he replied, letting out a shaky breath, "I was just not expecting such a...dramatic morning. I talk a lot when I get anxious, haha."

"So...what next?" Charlotte asked, trying to bring the conversation back on topic.

"I guess we should talk about ways of escaping, and about the Mole," I suggested.

"Well, the discussion about the Mole should be a short one," Spinel said, "Whether or not if it's even true that they exist, we'd never be able oust them."

"M-Maybe we can," Jesse responded hopefully, "I've b-been writing what everyone says down during out meetings...m-maybe I'll be able to find discrepancies."

"Seems like as good a plan as any," I remarked, "Good luck with that, Jesse. We're counting on you." The Sidekick nodded, a bashful yet determined look on her face.

"I guess that just leaves the escape plan, then," Jean-Peal then said, "So, how're we gonna do this?"

"We should explore the school more carefully first," Mikhail told us, being surprisingly helpful, "The building's architecture is nonsensical...I wish to get to the bottom of its mysteries."

"Ya know, that's actually not a bad idea," Charlie said with nod, "This school's weird as hell. It's a little optimistic of me, but I wouldn't be surprised to find a secret passageway or two."

"I really seriously doubt that there are secret passageways in this school," Viktoria said, shaking her head, "That's way too cliche, even for a meme lord like Monokuma."

"Still, it'll be good to look around some more," Charlotte told her, "There could still be things that we missed. And we could search in pairs, to be safe about it."

In pairs, huh? Who did I want to search with though? I looked at the fourteen students there, unsure of who exactly was the best choice. I ended up deciding that I would just partner up with someone that I wanted to get to know more.

 **Who will you spend time with?**

 **Charlotte Lin**

"...Charlotte, would you like to partner up with me then?" I asked.

"H-Huh?" She gasped, seemingly surprised, "Uh...sure. I would like that very much."

"Wow man, I thought we had something special," Jean-Peal whined at me.

"N-No, I didn't it mean it that way-" I tried to tell him.

"Ha, just fooling with you," Jean-Peal said with a small grin, "I know you had to pick just one of us. Let's try to partner up next time."

"Y-Yeah, of course," I replied.

"Hold on, there's an odd number of us here," Wilson pointed out, "We can't exactly pair everyone off since there'll be one person left over."

"Aha, but that is where you are wrong," Soleil announced, "I'm going to be busy in the kitchen for the rest of the day, baking up a sweet surprise. I swear, what I've got in store for you all, will be to die for!"

"Ha, nice, I love your unexpected dark humor, Soleil," Viktoria told him, giving him a thumbs up.

"That wasn't meant to be humorous," Soleil replied with a frown, "In hindsight, that was just a very poor choice of words."

" _Anyway_ ," Jenny interjected, her face as stoic-looking as ever despite likely feeling extremely frustrated by all the side antics, "It appears that we have the necessary amount of people to pair up as planned. I suggest that we meet up again at noon, share what we found, then swap search areas with another pair and continue our exploration for the rest of the day."

"Sounds like a plan," Spinel nodded, "A fresh set of eyes will be useful in uncovering new information."

"Please tell me you see the irony in what you just said," Jane begged.

"Don't answer that." Jenny commanded, "Now, let's move out."

Keahi had kept silent since her little spat with Jenny. She was looking down at the ground, her glare still apparent on her face. I could see that her fists were clenched, which made me feel a little wary. I could tell that many of us were expecting her to blow up at any second now.

"...URAAAAGH!" Keahi suddenly yelled, arms pumped in front of her, "Alright! Let's do this thing! Wilson! You're my partner, arright!?" Her entire body tensed, before she then ran to Wilson and began to drag him away.

"AAAHHHHHH!" Wilson screamed, "Why're you screaming!? I wanna partner up with someone else!" Unfortunately for him, it was already too late, as the two of them were long gone.

"...Well that happened." Viktoria said blankly.

And so, once everyone paired up and finished their breakfast (which everyone thought was delicious, though Soleil refused to accept our compliments, and Aiz just nodded in acknowledgement), we all headed out to our destinations. Charlotte and I decided that we would explore the Gymnasium more carefully.

I'm not sure what I expected, but after an hour of looking around, we found a whole lot of nothing.

"There really isn't anything to explore here," I told Charlotte, after checking around the bleachers for the fifth time.

"I know what you mean," she sighed in response, "Wanna take a break? Just for a minute?"

"Sure." I answered, and so the two of us sat down on the bleachers.

 **Charlotte Lin: Ultimate Inventor**

 **Free Time Event 1**

 **START**

"You know, we've spent quite a bit of time with each other, but we still don't really know much about each other," Charlotte noted.

"That's true," I replied, "I guess we haven't really had much time to just talk. We've been busy since the moment we got to this school."

"Yeah," Charlotte nodded, "Why don't we fix that now? We've got time, so why not?"

"Sure," I agreed, "Though, it'll probably just be you that'll be talking. There's nothing I can really say about myself."

"Oh, yeah, that's right," Charlotte said, "I'm sorry, that was inconsiderate of me to forget."

"Not...really?" I said, unsure in what to say, "I mean, you're not really offending me or anything. Honestly, it's kind of hard for me to feel any one way about most things."

"What?" Charlotte gasped, "Did Monokuma steal your emotions too?"

"Not exactly," I answered, "It's kind of hard to explain, but if anything, I feel like I'm just stuck in this permanent state of apathy."

"Oh...I...I'm so sorry..." Charlotte apologized.

"Eh, it's not the worst thing that could've happened," I shrugged, "I know I felt really panicked and shocked in the beginning, so that's proof I can still feel things. Maybe it just takes something extreme now, for me to feel the same way you guys do."

"Wow..." Charlotte said in awe, "How could that bear even do this? He's way more powerful than I could've thought possible." She was silent for a moment, before adding with a slight smile, "Huh. It seems like you managed to talk about yourself anyway. That's quite a feat for an Amnesiac."

"Heh, you're right," I chuckled, "You haven't had a chance to talk about yourself yet though. I guess it's your turn."

"Huh?" Charlotte said in surprise, "Oh, uh, alright then. Um, well, there's not really a lot to say about myself..."

"Sure there is," I persisted, "Everybody's got something going on in their life."

"Well...what would you like to hear?" Charlotte asked.

"Hmm...can you tell me about your family?" I asked.

"Oh, sure," Charlotte answered, "My parents are British and Cantonese, kind of an odd pairing, I know, but they love each other. They pushed me into studying a lot, since they wanted me to get good grades and eventually get into a good college."

"It makes sense why you're such a brilliant Inventor then," I told her, causing her to blush slightly, "I'm sure your parents are proud."

"Yeah, you'd think so," Charlotte replied with somewhat of a frown, "They weren't really all that supportive for the longest time."

"What? Why?" I asked. What kind of parents wouldn't support their child who was trying to pursue their dream?

"Well, inventors don't typically make a living in this world," Charlotte sighed, "Do you know the chances of an inventor having any kind of success? My parents did, and they didn't really like my chances of making it in the field."

The chances of an inventor having success? Somehow, I think I know this...

 **-25%**

 **-10%**

 **-1%**

"...It's only a **1% chance** , right?" I guessed.

"How did you know?" Charlotte asked, eyes widened slightly.

"Well, I'd assume the chances had to be really low, otherwise anyone could slap together an invention and make millions," I explained.

"That's a pretty smart guess," Charlotte grinned, though she didn't necessarily look happy, "Yes, only 1% of inventions ever become successful. The actual success rate is actually pretty contended, with some even arguing that it's actually as high as 10%. But, it's generally agreed on that 1% is the general base line for success." Her grin soured, as she continued, "I guess my parents didn't think I could ever be a part of that 1%."

"Well, you definitely proved them wrong," I told her with a reassuring smile, "You said you invented more than just one thing, right?"

"Yeah..." She replied, cheering up a bit, "I broke all expectations when I created my second invention. Creating just one and making it successful is hard enough, but then doing it again? That's practically unheard of. I...I earned that prestige." She furrowed her eye brows. "Er, sorry, that probably sounded really egotistical of me."

"But you're right," I told her, "You earned it. And you did it all at such a young age. It's no wonder why you're the Ultimate Inventor, there probably wasn't even any competition for that spot."

Charlotte looked down, unable to look at me after I said that, but I could see that she was trying to hide a grateful smile.

"David...thanks," She said quietly.

It almost kind of felt like she was fishing for compliments there, but honestly, I think she's just been deprived of praise for much of her life. I don't blame her for wanting to be told something positive about herself. I wonder if there is anything more to her family life though, I'm sure hard-to-please parents can't be the only reason she's like this. Either way though, I feel like I've gotten to know her a little better.

 **Free Time Event: CLEAR**

"Um, maybe we should get back to looking around," Charlotte suggested, "That was a long enough break, right?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," I replied, and so we went back to searching around the Gymnasium. As anyone might've expected, we still found absolutely nothing new by the time noon came around. Tired and disappointed, the two of us headed back to the Cafeteria, and waited for everyone to return.

"So..." Jane began to say once everyone had arrived, leaning back and forth on her heels as she spoke, "I'm guessing everyone else wasted just as much time as I did, right?"

"Yes, unfortunately," Raeger grimaced, "Tori and I did not manage to find anything new in the Laundry Room."

"A-And Jenny and I didn't find much either, at uh, the staircase hallway," Jesse added nervously.

"We didn't find anythin' either," Keahi groaned.

"Oh, I didn't even look around," Jane corrected, "I just kept poking Spinel until he jabbed me with his stick."

"It's not a stick, it's a cane," Spinel said through gritted teeth, "And thanks to you, I couldn't focus on exploring on our group's behalf."

"How could you even try to explore though?" Wilson questioned, "I mean, you're...you know...visually impaired."

"I won't be triggered into a catatonic state if you say the word 'blind', so please stop trying to tip toe around around the word," Spinel sighed, "Anyway, I still have hands. I just try to feel around to get an idea of what something is."

"Now that's what I call determination," Viktoria said, looking impressed, "What room were you searching in anyway?"

"The Trash Room." Spinel answered.

"Er...you _do_ know that there's an incinerator in there, right?" Charlotte asked worriedly, "You could've easily fallen in!"

"No worries," Spinel said, waving off her concerns, "The gate was still blocking the way. Honestly, our search was destined to fail no matter what, since I didn't even have the key."

"Oh, sorry," I spoke up, "I forgot I had the key. I guess I should be the one to go there next to explore." I looked to see who Jean-Peal had been paired off with, since I'd promised to partner up with him at my next opportunity, and saw that he was with Charlie. "Charlie, would you mind switching partners for the rest of the day?"

"Hm?" He grunted, "Eh, sure, I wanted to go check the incinerator anyway. It's been bothering me that the damn bear wouldn't let me see it yesterday."

"Huh?" I said, confused by what he said. When he started to walk up to me, was when I realized that he must had misunderstood me.

"Uh..." Jean-Peal mumbled, looking like he wanted to say something.

"Wait, I didn't mean-" I started to say, but when Charlie stood beside me and looked at me expectantly, I suddenly found it very hard to turn him away.

 **Who will you spend time with?**

 **Charlie McCrimmon**

"...Nevermind." I muttered.

Jean-Peal gave me a look that basically said "I can't believe you right now." I gave him a look back that said "Next time for sure, I promise."

"Now that that's settled," Jenny announced, "Let's head back out. Everyone, look somewhere that you haven't been to yet."

And so with that, everyone left the Cafeteria once again. Charlie and I headed over to the Trash Room, and when we got there I pulled out the gate key and undid the lock. The gate easily slid open after that, and so we were finally able to take a closer look at the incinerator.

"Looks like it turns on and off when we push this button," I said, pointing out the big red button on the wall next to it.

"No shit, that's pretty obvious," Charlie grumbled, "You don't gotta treat me like an idiot."

"Oh, uh, sorry," I apologized.

"Jeez, have a little backbone," Charlie told me, rolling his eyes, "You don't gotta apologize over everything."

"Uh..." I said, unsure of what to say. I ended up just saying my thoughts out loud. "What do you want from me?"

"What do I want?" He repeated.

"Yeah," I told him, "You're being difficult for no reason right now." He narrowed his eyes at me, as if he was contemplating what he should say.

"I'm a little pissed that I wasn't your first choice," he eventually admitted, "I knew you didn't actually want to partner up with me, but I didn't say anything. I get it, that JP guy is your friend. I just thought, after this morning..."

"This morning...?" I repeated. What did I do this morning? "You mean...after I said good morning? Was that bad?" He gave me a strange look after that.

"I thought...nevermind, I'm just being stupid," Charlie sighed, shaking his head, "Really, it's nothin'."

"It's stupid to bring something up and then drop it," I replied bluntly, "Just tell me what's up."

"...I figured you weren't judgin' me anymore, is all," Charlie mumbled, "I'm used to people not wanting to talk to me, but it pissed me off when JP wouldn't even look at me when we were exploring earlier. You're the first person here to try to start a conversation with me, so I guess I got my hopes up when you said you wanted to switch partners."

"Charlie..." I started to say.

"Don't you dare start pitying me!" He exclaimed, "Damn it, I told you this was stupid!"

"It's not stupid," I told him, "I didn't think you'd take any of that personally, but I'm sorry. I mean that."

"...'K." He replied simply.

"I want to get to know you," I continued, "I want to get to know everyone, really. So if you do want to just, hang out and talk, we can do that."

"...Ok." He said again, this time less dismissively.

 **Charlie McCrimmon: Ultimate Billiards Pro**

 **Free Time Event 1**

 **START**

"So...what?" Charlie asked.

"What do you mean, 'what'?" I asked back.

"What're we supposed to say?" He clarified.

"I guess, just whatever you feel like saying," I answered.

"Hmm..." Charlie hummed.

"...Oh," I said in realization, "I just realized, I never thanked you for standing up for me against Monokuma."

"Think nothin' of it," Charlie shook his head, "I just hate bullies, is all. He was going after ya pretty hard, somebody needed to put him in his place."

"Well...thank you," I told him, "That meant a lot, especially coming from a stranger."

"Hmm..." Charlie hummed again. It seemed like the conversation was fizzing out fast. I needed to find away to keep it going.

"...Maybe you could tell me more about your talent?" I suggested.

"Sure, I guess" Charlie shrugged, "I've been playin' pool since the day I could hold a stick in my hand. Well, I never actually started playin' until I was five, but when I was just a tiny little asshole baby, my parents said that I would hit little toy balls around with a stick. Apparently, I'm some kind of prodigy, 'cuz I won my first continental tournament when I was ten."

"Seriously!?" I said in surprise. Ten years old? How was that even possible?

"You don't believe me?" Charlie challenged.

"N-No...I mean, I do believe you," I told him, "You're here as the Ultimate Billiards Pro, so you must have done something pretty major to earn it."

"Well, yeah," Charlie continued, "I guess I barely believe it too sometimes. Just ten years old, and already a god damn champion. They even had a name for me, 'The Tiny Miracle of 8-Ball'. Can you imagine that?"

"I can't even imagine you as 'tiny' in the first place," I said, "I just see you as a really tall ten year old."

"Heh, that's quite cheeky of ya," Charlie said with a small grin, "I'm not even all that tall."

"You've got a good five inches on me, at the very least," I replied, "Even if you didn't have those scars, you'd still look pretty intimidating because of your height."

"...Huh," Charlie said slowly, suddenly much more sullen. Damn, I guess the scars were kind of a sore point with him. I was curious about them though. Had could he have ever gotten such crazy scars?

"Have you ever talked about your scars to anyone?" I asked, deciding to venture forward on the topic, "Or do you just prefer not to?"

"I _really_ don't like talkin' about personal shit like that." He answered gruffly, "Drop it."

"Yeah, sure, no problem," I retreated, "I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, I'm sorry." I was quiet for a moment, before adding, "But...if you do end up wanting to talk about it later, I won't turn you down, ok?"

"...Yeah." Charlie replied, no longer looking at me.

I don't know what happened to him, but I felt like, if I could, I wanted to be able to help him in any way possible. I just wish I could get him to open up more, but he seems kind of set in his anti-social ways. I feel like I kind of got to know him better though, at least.

 **Free Time Event: CLEAR**

We spent a bit more time examing the incinerator and Trash Room, but soon realized that we weren't going to be able to find anything else in such a small and empty room. We decided to head back to the Cafeteria, for the last time today. Though we weren't expecting any good news, we still had a little bit of hope that someone had managed to find something.

If only we were so lucky.

* * *

 **A/N: Haha...oh man, this update is late. You see that Author Note at the top of this chapter? Yeah, I wrote it nearly three weeks ago. This has been the longest delay so far since I've started this story. I can't say enough how sorry I am that it took this long to finally post this. Work and family issues took over for a week straight, so I didn't even have time to write for awhile. Not only that, but I couldn't really find a good spot to end this chapter. On the positive side, it's a long chapter, which hopefully will make up for the long delay. On the negative side, it's so long only because I couldn't think of a good spot to end it. Hell, even what I eventually settled for in this chapter feels very unsatisfactory to me. Ugh.**

 **In other news, the poll changed up while I was writing the Free Time Events. Charlotte and Charlie were in the lead, though now Viktoria and Raeger are the new Top 2. Those two have been locked in as the next two FTEs, so you'll be seeing more of them soon. Don't worry though, there's still time to get your favorite character to the top, as Spots #5 and #6 haven't been locked in yet. If you haven't voted yet, then now is the time. You're all free to still vote for Charlotte, Charlie, Viktoria, and Raeger...though the votes will be kind of pointless if you do. I guess I could just remove them from the poll, but I'd like to keep the poll results intact for when I eventually release the results.**

 **Well, that's about it. I really, really hope I manage to get the next update out by next Sunday, but I feel like life really doesn't want me to keep my scheduling promises. Keep your fingers crossed, everyone.**


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